Siemens Energy has successfully completed the first test phase with its CO2 capture process, PostCap, in a pilot facility at the Staudinger fossil-fueled power plant operated by E.ON.
After over 3,000 operating hours since commissioning of the facility in September 2009, it has been demonstrated that the post-combustion capture process attains a CO2 capture efficiency of over 90% with practically zero solvent emissions. The energy consumption is significantly lower than comparable conventional processes. Since the scrubbing agent, an aqueous amino acid salt solution, is non-volatile, there are practically no solvent emissions at the outlet of the capture facility. By contrast with conventional CO2 capture processes, such as those using amines, the PostCap process does not require any complex downstream scrubbing of the flue gas after CO2 capture.
In addition to CO2, the solvent also removes further contaminants contained in the fluegas. These contaminants additionally absorbed by the solvent and any by-products produced will in the future be removed from the liquid solution using a separation process.
The pilot project is sponsored by E.ON and the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology within the framework of the COORETEC Initiative. This initiative is part of the federal government’s 5th Energy Research Program entitled “Innovation and New Energy Technologies” and promotes research into and the development of low-CO2-emissions power plant technologies.
- Siemens Energy, Erlangen, Germany
