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Background
Amine based post combustion CO2
capture is considered to be the most mature of the capture
technologies available today. Capture plants with a
capacity of up 300,000 tonnes of CO2
per year have already been constructed and there are
well established suppliers.
The technology is based on washing the flue gas with
a solvent that captures CO2.
Thus, a small fraction of this solvent will be released
through the stack together with the cleaned flue gas.
For a 400 MWe CCGT plant a solvent slip of 1 ppm in
the flue gas will add up to about 40 tonnes per year.
This release may cause environmental concerns both directly
and indirectly through subsequent solvent degradation
into other substances in the atmosphere.
The expected emissions of amines, additives and their
degradation products with flue gas stream and waste
product streams is a continued concern and possible
show-stopper for the deployment of full scale CO2
post combustion capture using amines.
The major topics are to quantify amount and composition
of solvent and degradation products in the cleaned flue
gas, to understand the atmospheric fate and degradation
of these substances and to assess the final impact on
the environment. Additional important topics are technical
initiatives for reducing the level of solvent and degradation
products in the cleaned flue gas.
There is a clear lack of understanding in the characteristics
of the used solvent and their degradation products,
which are an additional concern. From the global prospective,
it is clear that the activities in relation to this
topic are limited and there is a clear need for cooperation
and knowledge exchange between the different institutes.
The “Environmental impact of Post Combustion
Capture” workshop is established, primarily to
share information on the environmental effect of using
chemical solvents for capture of CO2,
associated with conventional combustion based fossil
fuel fired power stations.
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