SINTEF partnership brings commercial carbon capture close

Hawaii-based Westec Environmental Solutions (WES) is partnering with SINTEF in Norway to push forward the development of carbon capture with more advanced technology.

WES's innovative contractor design captures CO₂ with the assistance of a solvent. This approach has the advantage over previous technologies in that the vessels are compact and can tolerate solids formed by precipitates without clogging.

"The aim of this very exciting project is to demonstrate, for the first time, a system that streamlines the capture process and eliminates several stages. This will make the overall operation significantly less capital and energy intensive," said Goran Vlajnic, executive director of the Carbon Capture and Conversion Institute (CCCI). "If successful, the new process could play a significant role in reducing industrial emissions."

"For the first time, an advanced precipitating CO₂ capture technology will be demonstrated in a full height state-of-the art pilot plant facility, integrating two unique solvent and contactor technologies. Successful demonstration will take this technology a step closer to commercialisation," said Ugochukwu Edwin Aronu, SINTEF scientist and project leader.

The WES contactor will use a new precipitating solvent designed and developed by SINTEF, the largest independent research organisation in Scandinavia. The SINTEF product reacts with and absorbs CO₂ more rapidly than other solvents, the regeneration process takes place at a lower temperature, uses less energy and can have a lower environmental footprint.

The Carbon Capture and Conversion Institute (CCCI), a business division of CMC Research Institutes in Canada, will be responsible for engineering design work to scale up the process if initial tests are promising.

The project is lead by SINTEF and funded by CLIMIT – Norway’s national carbon capture and storage research funding programme.