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The Norwegian Government presented in January 2009 a proposition to the Storting (St.prp. nr. 38 (2008-2009)) regarding investment in TCM, and on May 7, 2009 the Storting authorised the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy to invest in TCM. Based on this, StatoilHydro, Shell and the State (through Gassnova) decided to establish a technology company and commence construction of TCM. The construction time for TCM is estimated to be approximately 30 months. It will be finished in 2011/2012.

Facts:

The CCS project at Mongstad is based on the implementation agreement between the Norwegian State and Statoil , and the Ministry of the Environment’s emission permit of October 12, 2006. 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.

The Norwegian Government presented in January 2009 a proposition to the Storting (St.prp. nr. 38 (2008-2009)) regarding investment in TCM, and on May 7, 2009 the Storting authorised the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy to invest in TCM. Based on this, StatoilHydro, Shell and the State (through Gassnova) decided to establish a technology company and commence construction of TCM. The construction time for TCM is estimated to be approximately 30 months.

To ensure that the experiences from the Technology Centre have the broadest relevance, the Technology Centre 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.

No known technologies for carbon capture from exhaust gases are fully matured, and although some technologies are more mature than others, many years of development is needed. The technology centre at Mongstad will be a significant Norwegian contribution to international development of technology through the establishment of such a testing arena.

TCM will include both amine- and chilled ammonia based technologies. Access to different flue gas sources will enable testing that is relevant to both gas and coal fired power plants as well as flue gases from the industry activities.

Amine technology is considered to have a moderate technical risk, since this technology has been used in similar applications for decades. However, there is still a potential for improvements, and a need to qualify certain components of the process for a scale of at least one million t CO₂ per year. Improvements to be evaluated at TCM include process design, construction methods and cost efficiency.

The other method is the chilled ammonia technology, which has a potential for lower energy consumption per ton of CO₂ captured. This process has not been tested earlier at such a large scale, and thus represents a higher technical risk.

Timing:

Phase 1: Start-up of the cogeneration facility and pilot plant (2011/12) and Phase 2: operation of full scale plant (2018)

Other Sources and Press Release:

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)

• Anne Margrete Blaker, (Gassnova, Vice President Communications)

News about European CO2 Technology Centre Mongstad