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

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 (WtE) plant will add costs and energy use. Developing more efficient and less costly capture technologies is important to reduce the barriers for implementing CO2 capture. The LOUISE project’s main objective is therefore to develop and demonstrate Chemical Looping Combustion (CLC) as an innovative and efficient CO2 capture technology in heat and power generation from waste-derived fuels. CLC is an oxy-combustion 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 scrap materials from steel and titanium industry as possible metal oxides for CLC. The LOUISE project started autumn 2021 and ended December 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 SAREN Energy Bio-El AS, Geminor AS, Kronos Titan AS, and Titania AS, as industry partners. Main achievements obtained by the partners in the Norwegian part of LOUISE are: * Successful operation with SRF waste-derived fuel in the 150 kW pilot unit achieved, showing very high capture rate (> 95 %) and performance parameters at least as good as for biomass. * Ilmenite is validated good candidate as an oxygen carrier material for CLC of waste-derived fuels. * Screening of several new metal oxide materials show that some scrap fractions from steel and titanium industry can be new metal oxide materials for CLC. * Life-cycle assessments for different business cases of full-scale CLC processes with CO2 capture and storage from waste feedstocks have been performed, showing that CLC performs equal or better than more conventional capture technologies. * A case study for a 60 MW CLC plant at Øra industry site in Fredrikstad has been established. It will supply the local industrial steam network, a district heating network, and produce power from steam turbines. An economic assessment of the plant shows that sales of negative CO2 certificates seem to be needed to provide economy in the project. * SINTEF has been responsible for the dissemination activities in LOUISE. This have included establishing and maintaining the project webpage, project logo, newsletters, and arranging two public workshops (webinars). The webinars achieved high participation, with 140 and 80 participants. As such, the webinars succeeded in reaching and communicating the project’s work to a wide, relevant audience, thereby increasing the chances of uptake of the project’s solutions. * 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 SAREN Energy Bio-El WtE plant where they are producing steam and power from waste. * Project results have been disseminated both in conferences and journals, such as both the 6th and 7th International Conference on Chemical Looping in 2022 and 2024, and in the International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control 2023. The 60 MW case study will be presented at TCCS-13, and a final paper will be published in Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research in 2025. Important project work has also been done by partners from the other countries. Most notably are the 1 MW pilot tests, the basic design of a 10 MW demonstration plant, and several business cases being established. The business case results indicate that the LOUISE CLC system achieves lower operating costs than more conventional capture technology. However, it is less suitable for retrofitting existing WtE-plants. Overall, the business cases for CCS (CO2 storage) were found to be more profitable than CCU (CO2 use) in a broad range of considered boundary conditions. The Norwegian partners in LOUISE have collaborated very well with the partners from the other countries and a lot of knowledge and experiences have been openly shared among partners. This is a highly valuable outcome of the project.

Main achievements obtained by the partners in the Norwegian part of LOUISE are: * Successful operation with SRF waste-derived fuel in the 150 kW pilot unit achieved, showing very high capture rate (> 95 %) and performance parameters at least as good as for biomass. * Ilmenite is validated good candidate as an oxygen carrier material for CLC of waste-derived fuels. * Screening of several new metal oxide materials show that some scrap fractions from steel and titanium industry can be new metal oxide materials for CLC. * Life-cycle assessments for different business cases of full-scale CLC processes with CO2 capture and storage from waste feedstocks have been performed, showing that CLC performs equal or better than more conventional capture technologies. * A case study for a 60 MW CLC plant at Øra industry site in Fredrikstad has been established. It will supply the local industrial steam network, a district heating network, and produce power from steam turbines. An economic assessment of the plant shows that sales of negative CO2 certificates seem to be needed to provide economy in the project. * SINTEF has been responsible for the dissemination activities in LOUISE. This have included establishing and maintaining the project webpage, project logo, newsletters, and arranging two public workshops (webinars). The webinars achieved high participation, with 140 and 80 participants. As such, the webinars succeeded in reaching and communicating the project’s work to a wide, relevant audience, thereby increasing the chances of uptake of the project’s solutions. * Project results have been disseminated both in conferences and journals, such as both the 6th and 7th International Conference on Chemical Looping in 2022 and 2024, and in the International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control 2023. The 60 MW case study will be presented at TCCS-13, and a final paper will be published in Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research in 2025. Important project work has also been done by partners from the other countries. Most notably are the 1 MW pilot tests, the basic design of a 10 MW demonstration plant, and several business cases being established. The business case results indicate that the LOUISE CLC system achieves lower operating costs than more conventional capture technology. However, it is less suitable for retrofitting existing WtE-plants. Overall, the business cases for CCS (CO2 storage) were found to be more profitable than CCU (CO2 use) in a broad range of considered boundary conditions. The Norwegian partners in LOUISE have collaborated very well with the partners from the other countries and a lot of knowledg

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