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CLIMIT-Forskning, utvikling og demo av CO2-håndtering

Low-Cost CO2 Capture by Chemical Looping Combustion of Waste-Derived Fuels (LOUISE Norway)

Alternative title: Kostnadseffektiv CO2-fangst med kjemisk sirkulasjonsforbrenning (CLC) av foredlet avfallsbrensel (LOUISE Norway)

Awarded: NOK 7.2 mill.

The LOUISE project aims to demonstrate Chemical Looping Combustion (CLC) as an innovative and efficient CO2 capture technology in heat and power generation from waste-derived fuels. Generation of heat and power from waste produces CO2. Capture of this CO2 will contribute to the urgently needed reduction in global CO2 emissions. Since a share of the carbon in waste is biogenic, it also contributes to carbon dioxide removal, i.e., removing CO2 from the atmosphere. Integrating CO2 capture in a waste-to-energy plant is costly and energy demanding, which reduces the plant efficiency. This project will therefore develop and demonstrate CLC of solid waste-derived fuels up to 1 MW scale (TRL6). CLC is an innovative process for generation of heat and power with CO2 capture with possible efficiency and cost benefits. It is an oxy-fuel capture technology without cryogenic air separation. Instead, oxygen is separated from the air as an internal part of the CLC process. This is done using metal oxide materials. One highly relevant material is ilmenite, a mineral that is mined and processed at large scale in Norway. The project will validate the use of ilmenite in CLC of waste-derived fuels. To further reduce costs and to increase circularity, the project will also evaluate possible waste materials from steel and titanium industry as possible metal oxides relevant for CLC. The environmental impact of a CLC waste-to-energy (WtE) plant will be assessed using life-cycle analysis. A main objective is to prepare for pre-commercial demonstration of the technology. Basic design and cost estimation of a 10 MW demonstration unit will therefore be established. The LOUISE project started autumn 2021 and will end late autumn 2024. It is an ACT-3 project with collaboration between research and industry partners from Norway, Germany, Greece and Turkey. The Norwegian part of LOUISE is funded by CLIMIT. It involves SINTEF and NORSUS as research partners, and Kvitebjørn Bio-El AS, Geminor AS, Kronos Titan AS and Titania AS as industry partners. The Norwegian partners are mainly involved in pilot testing of the CLC technology using waste-derived fuels in a 150 kW pilot unit at SINTEF in Trondheim, evaluation and testing of relevant metal oxide materials, and life-cycle assessment of different possible business cases established by the different countries involved in the project. Main results so far: * Successful operation with SRF waste-derived fuel in the 150 kW pilot unit achieved, showing very high capture rate and performance parameters at least as good as for biomass. * Screening of several new metal oxide materials show that some waste fractions from steel and titanium industry can be new metal oxide materials for CLC. * The modelling framework for the life-cycle assessment of a CLC process for both CO2 capture and storage (CCS) and CO2 capture and utilisation (CCU) has been established. * A business case for a CLC plant at Øra industry site in Fredrikstad has been established, giving the necessary inputs to evaluate costs and perform the life-cycle assessment. * The project and the technology has been presented at "Avfall Norge Energigjenvinnings-seminaret" October 2021, at the 6th International Chemical Looping conference in September 2022, at the CLIMIT Summit in Larvik in February 2023, at the TCCS-12 conference in Trondheim in June 2023, and in a recent article published in the journal "International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control" in November 2023. The third project General Assembly meeting were held in Fredrikstad in May 2023, hosted by Kronos Titan AS. The meeting was very well received by the partners, and it included highly relevant and interesting site visits at the Kronos Titan plant, as well as at the Kvitebjørn Bio-El waste-to-energy plant where they are producing steam and power from waste using a fluidised bed boiler. Since CLC is also based on fluidised bed technology, there are a lot of similarities and experiences that can be used from existing fluidised bed boiler plants. A news article about the project and the CLC technology was published in the web magazine "Vekst i Fredrikstad" in May 2023, shortly after the GA meeting. One important coming activity in LOUISE will now be the larger scale tests to be performed in the 1 MW unit at TU Darmstadt in January 2024. On February 6th, the project will hold a public webinar to inform about the project, the technology, and a overview of main results so far.

The aim is to prepare for pre-commercial demonstration of Chemical Looping Combustion (CLC) for CO2 capture from solid waste-derived fuels (waste-to-energy WtE). CLC is an innovative, highly efficient combustion process for generation of power and heat providing a concentrated stream of CO2. A net electrical efficiency above 35 % and CO2 avoidance costs below 25 €/t can be expected for CLC of waste-derived fuels, which is a significant improvement compared to first generation CO2 capture technologies. The potential impact of enabling CLC for WtE is large, especially in urban areas where WtE plants are a major source of CO2. A main advantage of the CLC concept is the separation of the heat production from the release of problematic substances. This allows for higher steam temperatures and electrical efficiency, even for more low-quality fuels, such as waste. The LOUISE project will: • Demonstrate CLC of solid waste-derived fuels in a realistic environment with pilot tests at 150 kWth and 1 MWth scale (TRL 6) using ilmenite as the oxygen carrier due to its known favorable properties • Elaborate the basic design and cost estimation of a 10 MWth demonstration unit (TRL 7). • Validate new oxygen carriers and industrial by-product; investigate the interaction of oxygen carriers with impurities in the waste-derived fuels • Develop concepts for utilizing spent oxygen carrier from CLC in metal production processes • Determine the environmental impact of CLC waste-to-energy plants using life-cycle assessment methodology • Develop business cases of commercial CLC plants firing waste-derived fuels on existing sites of the industrial partners in the four participating countries (Germany, Norway, Greece, Turkey) • Investigate the potential for CO2 delivery from CLC WtE plants for permanent storage at Northern Lights (Longship) and/or CO2 utilisation

Funding scheme:

CLIMIT-Forskning, utvikling og demo av CO2-håndtering