First carbon capture demonstration at an operational power plant begins

The £20 million project, based at Scottish and Southern Energy's (SSE) coal-fired power plant at Ferrybridge, Yorkshire, is a partnership between SSE, Doosan Power Systems and Vattenfall.

The project will capture 100 tonnes of CO₂ per day from the plant's flue gases. This is the equivalent of the emissions from five megawatts of the plant's generating capacity, out of a total of over two gigawatts.

Doosan said that the project was the first of its size to be integrated into a live power plant in the UK.

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is a technology used to prevent CO₂ from being released into the atmosphere from the use of fossil fuel in power generation. A CCS project captures the carbon dioxide produced by a power plant before storing it in such a way that it does not enter the atmosphere.

However, the Ferrybridge project is not yet able to store the CO₂ it captures from the plant.

Ian Marchant, Chief Executive of SSE, said that the plant bridged the gap between various smaller trials already underway and the commercial-sized demonstration projects ultimately envisaged by the UK Government.

"The development of viable carbon capture technology is central to the UK's climate change and energy security objectives. We believe projects such as this will be absolutely crucial in establishing when and how the technology can be developed," he said.

The project will use an amine compound to chemically absorb CO₂ from flue gasses. It will then be heated to release the CO₂, which can then be liquefied for transport or storage underground.

On its website, project co-partner Doosan said that it was a significant development due to both its scale, and its ability to demonstrate the performance of the amine compound on real flue gas from a working power station.

The trial will run for two years, and the project will aim to begin commercial carbon capture between 2015 and 2017 according to the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC).

The Ferrybridge facility is part of a £125m Government-led CCS research and development programme, and DECC will launch a competition for funding for similar projects early next year. A total of £21 million is being invested in the plant, including £6.3m from the DECC, Technology Strategy Board and Northern Way.

Energy Secretary Chris Huhne, who attended the opening of the facility, said that the test programme was an "important milestone" in the Government's long-term aim of introducing cost competitive CCS technology on coal and gas-fired power plants by the 2020s.

"This is the first operating carbon capture plant attached to a power station at this scale in the UK and has benefitted from more than £6m in public money. This investment will be invaluable to the wider commercial scale deployment of CCS by reducing uncertainty, driving down costs and developing the UK supply chain and skills," he said.

Earlier this month SSE entered into a joint development agreement with Shell in relation to a proposed CCS project at its gas-fired power station in Peterhead, Aberdeenshire. The project aims to design and develop a CCS facility capable of capturing CO₂ from a 385MW gas turbine at Peterhead. The CO₂ will then be transported to Shell's Goldeneye gas field in the North Sea.