RWE’s Coal Innovation Centre

Brief description:

Apart from the large German research programs, there have been smaller, regional initiatives in Germany such as RWE’s “Coal Innovation Centre” in Niederaussem. The aim is to perceptibly lower CO2 emissions in coal based power generation. The intention is to invest some €90 million in the coming years in research and development for CO2 reduction and conversion technologies. Besides specific projects that practically go straight from the lab to the workbench, the “Coal Innovation Centre” is designed to give international experts a platform for exchanging ideas. Starting in spring 2009 and in collaboration with the RWTH Aachen Technical University, the Juelich Research Centre and the TÜV Rheinland technical inspection agency, practice-related symposia are held both with international experts and with students from the region. Four major projects are already up and running, such as a prototype plant, to test pre-drying lignite using the fluidised-bed method, which has the potential to increase efficiency rates in power generation using lignite by 10% to over 47%. In a joint project with BASF, Linde and RWE Power, a pilot plant for CO2 scrubbing is operated at Niederaussem as well as a pilot algae plant.