Vattenfall’s 30 Mwth Oxyfuel Pilot Plant Project

Vattenfall’s 30 MWth Oxyfuel Pilot Plant Project
Lars Strömberg1, Göran Lindgren2, Marie Anheden2, Nicklas Simonsson2, Moritz Köpcke2
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Vattenfall AB

Vattenfall Utveckling AB, Jämtlandsgatan 99, SE-16287 Stockholm, Sweden Abstract Vattenfall is to build a pilot plant for a carbon dioxide-free coal-fired power station. The plant will be built next to the Schwarze Pumpe lignite-firedpower station to the south of Berlin. The technology that will be used, carbon dioxide capture with Oxyfuel technology, entails firing the lignite using pure oxygen and recycled carbon dioxide. The pilot plant, which will have a thermal output of 30 MW, is part of a research and development project aimed at developing and commercializing the new technology allowing designated tests to be performed inthe plant. It will take three years to build the plant, which according to plan will be commissioned in 2008. The paper presents an overview of the pilot plant design aspects and some of the test activities that will be performed in the pilot plant. Oxyfuel combustion has recently been shown to be one of the most promising options of the technologies for CO2 capture from coal-fired power plants.The possibility to use advanced steam technology and simplified flue gas processing has moved it into an economically competitive position. The paper will, in addition to describing the planned pilot plant, also show Vattenfall’s view on the competitiveness of the Oxyfuel technology to other solutions for CO2 reductions. Keywords: Vattenfall, Oxyfuel, Pilot, CO2, Capture, Storage, Schwarze PumpeIntroduction Vattenfall began in 2001 with its major research and development programme in Carbon Capture and Storage under the name “CO2-free Power Plant”. The worldwide dependency on fossil fuels in the future and the serious issue of Global Warming demand for committed engagement for technological concepts and political-economical frameworks to ensure safe and reliable electrical power supply.Vattenfall’s research program reaches from capture technology engineering over transport scenario development and storage site investigations to all enclosing environmental impact assessments. From mainly three technological options for coal-fired power plant concepts with CO2 capture – the pre-combustion decarbonisation after fuel gasification, the post-combustion decarbonisation with chemicalsolvents and the denitrification and combustion in pure-O2/recycled-CO2 atmosphere – Vattenfall chose to intensify its research on the latter, the Oxyfuel technology, and announced in May 2005 the erection of a self-financed Oxyfuel pilot plant at its lignite-fired German power plant in Schwarze Pumpe, south-east of Berlin. The pilot plant is intended for development and verification of the Oxyfuelprocess for pulverized fuel (PF) combustion, the combustion technology that today provides the backbone of electricity production. Scheduled to be ready for operation in 2008, the 30 MWth pilot plant is intended to validate and support the technical concept on the gas-side of the process and serve as main step towards the construction of a 200 MWel demonstration power plant generating “CO2-free”electricity from 2015 under commercial conditions. In the joint European Research Cooperation ENCAP (Enhanced Capture of CO2) over 30 research institutes and industrial companies investigate various technological concepts for CO2 capture under Vattenfall’s coordination. The Schwarze Pumpe pilot plant was selected as one of the candidates to be considered for future experimental testing of the Oxyfueltechnology within the project. 1

Even though Vattenfall has chosen to focus its efforts on Oxyfuel combustion, Vattenfall is still also involved in development of the other main options for CO2 capture. This is done through different initiatives such as the participation in the EU project CASTOR with pilot testing of post combustion at the Esbjerg power station in Denmark and in the DYNAMIS...