Technology Centre Mongstad

Brief description:
Facts:
Main developer:
Develop, test and qualify new CO2capture technologies.
The Technology Centre Mongstad (TCM) was officially launched on 7 May 2012. It has been constructed to capture and release up to 100,000 tonnes of CO2 per year. The centre is owned by Gassnova, which manages the state’s interests, Statoil, Shell and the South African company Sasol - which has a 2.44% stake.
In 2006, the Norwegian state and Statoil signed an agreement on the construction of a centre for testing and demonstration of CO2 capture technologies at Mongstad. The investment decision was made by the Storting (the Norwegian parliament) in May 2009. Initially, Alstom and Aker Solutions will test their technologies at the centre. However, TCM will be a significant Norwegian contribution to international development of technology and, following its launch, operators put out a call to international CCS developers to make use the test facility to trial their respective technologies.
The TCM will test CO2 capture on two types of flue gases using two capture technologies. One source of emissions is the existing catalytic cracker facility at the Mongstad Refinery and the other is emissions from the gas-fired combined heat and power plant (CHP), which is under construction. Two technologies will be tested in parallel, amine technology and chilled ammonia technology. The choices of technologies were made by the TCM project on the basis of assessments of the technologies’ potential for improvements, possibilities of implementation as retrofit solutions, possibilities of full-scale application, technical maturity, environmental burden, and the possibilities of capture from sources such as coal, natural gas, and refining.
The planning of the TCM project began immediately after the emission permit was granted and the implementation agreement signed. The Ministry of Petroleum and Energy signed in June 2007 an agreement on cooperation with industrial participants in the planning and preparation of TCM. The Norwegian State’s interests in the agreement were transferred in October 2007 to the state enterprise Gassnova.
Aker and Alstom have already been testing their own CCS technologies at TCM and, in October 2012, Siemens, Hitachi, and Mitsubishi joined a number of companies bidding to follow in their footsteps.
In late 2012/early 2013, TCM launched an international test facility network, in order to exchange information and experience that seeks to promote the deployment of CCS worldwide.
Other Sources and Press Releases
Shell Cansolv starts CO2 capture testing at Mongstad, November 2014
Tore Amundsen interview, The Engineer, February 2013
TCM launches international test facility network, January 2013
Trio vying for CCS testing slot at Norway's test centre, 9 October 2012
UK and TCM, Carbon Capture Journal, 2 September 2012
StatoilHydro submits plans to Government (February 2009)
Norwegian Government to invest in Mongstad (July 2008)
Carbon cooperation agreement at Mongstad (June 2007)
An important step towards CO2 capture at Mongstad (June 2007)
Technology development in Norway to reduce CO2 emissions (June 2007)
Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage in Norway [PDF] (April 2007)
The Norwegian government and Statoil to develop a world class environmental power project at Mongstad (October 2006)
Contact info
Main developer:
- Anne Margrete Blaker, (Gassnova, Vice President Communications)