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CLIMIT-Forskning, utvikling og demo av CO2-håndtering

Negative Emissions in the Waste to Energy Sector: Technologies for CCS

Awarded: NOK 3.5 mill.

Addressing climate change and the sustainable management of waste are increasingly important societal challenges as recognized by the Paris Agreement and the EU Action Plan for a Circular Economy Package. The use of Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage (CCUS) technologies in Waste-to-Energy (WtE) plants can greatly reduce CO2 emissions from waste incineration to the atmosphere. Because a fraction of the carbon in waste is from biogenic origin, such technology, called Bioenergy with CCS (BECCS or BioCCS), creates a carbon sink over its lifecycle resulting in so?called "negative CO2 emissions". Conventional BECCS based on biomass can be conflictual with regard to food security or land availability if deployed at too large scale, which is not the case when the feedstock is waste. The potential for CCUS from WtE is growing in Europe and worldwide as landfill sites are phased out. NEWEST-CCUS is a multi-country project coordinated by Edinburgh University funded by the ERA-NET Cofund ACT 2 Accelerating CCS Technologies program, where SINTEF Energi AS is the leader of the Norwegian sub-project. The aim of NEWEST-CCUS is to accelerate the development and deployment of CO2 capture technologies that are tailored for effective operation at WtE plants. In particular, NEWEST-CCUS aims at de-risking promising technologies for CO2 capture at WtE plants and deliver a reliable methodology for accounting for negative emissions associated with successful implementation of CCUS in the WtE sector. Ultimately, NEWEST-CCUS aims to deliver European innovation that will establish CCUS for WtE as a substantial contributor to global climate change mitigation. Expanding the range of fuel sources that are ready to use in combination with CCUS will create high quality jobs and respond to climate change concerns. The innovation focus is on progressing TRL of several promising technologies for WtE sites with a combination of pilot-scale testing and modelling. The project has focussed on developing: - Solvent-based post-combustion capture and, in particular, knowledge and technologies that address the need to handle a more diverse range of combustion impurities in challenging fuel flue gases associated with typical WtE plants. - Oxy-firing technologies, focussing on both circulating fluidized bed technology and grate fired boilers. - Membrane based CO2 separation and liquefaction. Additionally, a comparative assessment of these technologies has provided key metrics for the sector, policymakers, regulators and technology developers. Metrics such as waste conversion, thermal efficiency, feedstock versatility, biogenic carbon content of feedstock, potential market penetration based on geographical mapping, size of plants and timescale, suitability for retrofits, and environmental impact assessment. The last activities in 2022 have focussed on: - Finalising the process architecture of a WtE in oxy-fuel mode and investigating the oxygen and recirculated flue gases distribution through CFD stuyd of a grate furnace; - Performing energy integration studies for the reference WtE plant with CCS for 3 operational models: only power, medium CHP and complete CHP, in cooperation with University of Edinburgh; - Studying post-combustion capture using membrane assisted liquefaction capture for WtE flue gas conditions for commercial membrane from MTR. The optimal process design combining membrane and liquefaction processes is also identified depending on the flue gas conditions to maximize the capture performance. showing that the potential of membrane based post-combustion capture can be compact and cost-effective compared to MEA.

The NEWEST-CCUS project has established a research and innovation platform for the deployment of CCS across the European WtE sector thanks to the collaboration between academic and R&D institutions of 4 countries (UK, Norway, Germany, Netherlands) and the participation of more than 15 industrial partners in the Advisory Board, covering users and suppliers of technologies. It has allowed to: - optimize CO2 capture design for integration in WtE plants for low energy use, cost and environmental impact, based on relevant WtE plant conditions provided by industry partners; and - identify the potential of membrane assisted liquefaction process for WtE plants as an alternative capture method that is compact and cost-effective. - establish credible scenarios at regional and national level, using techno-economic assessment methods. For policy makers and the general public the project provided an evaluation of the potential of the sector for net cumulative atmospheric CO2 removal via environmental impact assessment and life cycle analysis. The results have been made widely accessible through the a series of newsletters prepared the project coordinator with various focus on technologies and research infrastructures used at the partners sites, information on the progress of known large industrial CCS projects for the WtE sector, and highlights of CCS in the partner countries. The increased interdisciplinary (several capture technologies investigated and both technical and techno-economical studies) and international research collaboration are the major project impacts. In addition, ECCSEL infrastructures were used in two countries, highlighting the importance of the coordinated European network. The stakeholders which were gathered in the Advisory Board were represented by 9 European WtE plants operators and the association of European lants (CEWEP), 4 technology suppliers in the WtE sector, and 2 environmental agencies. This large coverage in addition to the focus on communication (topical newsletters) ensured that the research results will be widely spread amongst stakeholders such as public administration or companies. Of general interest to all stakeholders, we can name the results of WP5 where for example a market assessment of negative emissions from this sector was made and a sensitivity analysis through Life Cycle Assessment on future waste composition.

The focus of the NEWEST-CCS project is on an emerging market for CCS: the Waste to Energy Sector. Waste to Energy is a growing sector across Europe in the context of phasing out landfill sites, with a yet to be characterised potential for negative emissions. NEWEST-CCS will assess the size of a potential European market for CCS in the sector and the cumulative net CO2 removal from atmosphere in Europe from waste combustion with CCS and landfill gas combustion with CCS. The innovation focus is on progressing TRL of technologies for greenfield and retrofit sites, with a combination of pilot-scale testing, modelling and testing at industrial sites. The project is linked to two newly awarded projects in partner countries and co-applicants: CapeWaste in Norway led by SER, and NuCA in Germany led by USTUTT, and thus form a platform for promoting the various capture technologies applicable to the WtE sector. In particular: - Oxy-combustion in grate fired boilers, the conventional combustion method for challenging fuels, and in circulating fluidised beds, a technology with a potential for higher efficiency with Solid Recovered Fuels - Solvent-based post-combustion capture: the project will evaluate a generic amine system representative of commercially available technologies with challenging fuels, and a 3rd generation solvent tailored for the handling of combustion impurities from challenging fuel flue gases and low-capex process configuration suited for medium-sized WtE thermal plants. A comparative assessment of these technologies will provide key metrics for the sector, policymakers, regulators and developers, such as waste conversion, thermal efficiency, feedstock versatility, carbon negativity of feedstock, potential market penetration based on geographical mapping, size of plants and timescale, suitability for retrofits, environmental impact assessment and life cycle analysis

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CLIMIT-Forskning, utvikling og demo av CO2-håndtering