Siemens and E.ON to develop new carbon capture process for eco-friendly power plant technology
24 January 2008
Siemens and E.ON Energie have agreed to jointly develop climate-friendly power plant technology that relies on an efficient method for carbon capture, an important step on the way toward the low-carbon power plant.
The starting point is a solvent with special characteristics, which provide the basis for a new process to capture CO2 from the flue gases of power plants. A pilot installation on an E.ON power plant site in Germany will be operational by 2010 with further developments taking place till 2014. The mid-term target is to develop this new CO2 capture process ready for large-scale, commercial deployment by 2020.
"E. ON as a world leading energy supplier brings into this partnership its experience from the planning and operation of numerous fossil-fuelled power plants and the site for the planned pilot plant," said Bernhard Fischer, chief technology officer, member of the executive board of E.ON Energie.
Siemens in turn provides extensive experience and know-how in the engineering and project execution for complete power plants. It also has reputed chemical process development competencies and engineering skills of the former Hoechst AG, which Siemens says are "very good preconditions for successful development of an efficient CO2 capture process, as well as for its optimum integration in a power plant process."
"Combatting global climate change is one of the greatest challenges of the 21st century," said Michael Suess, CEO of the Siemens fossil power generation division. Even in the foreseeable future, it will not be possible to meet the rapidly growing demand for electricity worldwide without fossil fuels such as coal and natural gas.
Climate experts agree that CO2 emissions have to be reduced quickly and significantly to limit the increase in temperature. "For that a broad variety of technologies has to be implemented. This includes technologies to further increase the efficiency of power plants and processes to capture and store carbon dioxide (CCS), "added Suess.
