BIGCO2 R&D Platform: Closing the Knowledge Gaps of the CO₂ Chain

Grethe Tangen, BIGCO2 Project Manager. SINTEF Energy Research, Norway. grethe.tangen@sintef.no

Project Description The BIGCO2 R&D Platform (BIGCO2) builds knowledge and technology underpinning demonstration of power generation with carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS) at industrial scale.

The project aims at closing several critical knowledge gaps in the CO₂ chain to enable sustainable power generation from fossil fuels based on carbon capture and safe underground storage of CO₂. Taking the first phase of the project into account BIGCO2 is the largest publicly funded research project on CCS in Europe. Hence, BIGCO2 is a unique project due to its size, its diversity and the fact that it comprises the whole CO₂ chain. The project has a particular focus on natural gas based processes. The project is set up as an extensive international collaborative effort, bringing together expertise and research infrastructure of competent research institutes and

universities, supported by leading vendors, energy companies, oil and gas companies.

The objective of BIGCO2 is to complement and extend the knowledge developed in the forerunners of the project and in other ongoing research programmes to enable power generation with CCS. Tangible objectives are 90 % CO₂ capture rate, 50% cost reduction and a fuel to electricity penalty less than 7% compared with state-of-the-art

power generation.

In BIGCO2, principal research is executed at a level of detail spanning from molecular reaction kinetics to CO₂ chains and global climate effects. To a large extent theoretical analyses are accompanied by experimental studies and demonstrations. A comprehensive educational program is part of BIGCO2, including 14 PhD fellowships. The scientific ambition of BIGCO2 is to be at the international forefront of the selected topics of research, pushing the borders of knowledge beyond the current state of the art and serving as a basis for innovation.

The areas of research in BIGCO2 are:

CO₂ Capture Technologies:

BIGCO2 includes activities related to the main CO₂ capture routes; post-combustion, pre-combustion, oxy-fuel and Chemical Looping Combustion (CLC):

• High temperature membranes for oxygen and hydrogen separation;

• Post-combustion CO₂ capture with focus on novel solvents development and system modelling and simulation;

• Pressurised combustion of enriched fuels enabling both hydrogen and oxy-fuel combustion;

• CLC including a 100 kW demonstration rig;

• Power cycle integration and analyses including unit modelling and simulation; and

• Innovative activities aiming at developing underpinning knowledge and technology for new concepts, processes and components.

CO₂ Chain Analyses

BIGCO2 is developing a modelling framework for evaluating viability of CCS taking technical, economical and environmental aspects into consideration. In addition, conditioning and infrastructure for CO₂ transport is investigated.

Safe Underground Storage of CO₂ in Geological Formations

Options for safe CO₂ storage in aquifers and depleted oil/gas fields are investigated in BIGCO2 and fundamentals related to CO₂ for Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) are studied. The project includes analysis of global climate effects of various leakage scenarios. Further, legal and institutional issues of CO₂ management are investigated.

Partners and Funding

BIGCO2 is coordinated by SINTEF Energy Research.

The industrial partners of the BIGCO2 Consortium are Aker Kværner, ALSTOM, ConocoPhillips, GE Global Research, Shell, StatoilHydro, Statkraft and TOTAL.

The R&D providers are CICERO, DLR (Deutsche Zentrum für Luftund Raumfahrt), NTNU, SINTEF Materials and Chemistry, SINTEF Petroleum Research and TUM (Technical University of München) in addition to SINTEF Energy

Research.

The main sponsors of BIGCO2 are the Research Council of Norway and Gassnova, with co-funding from the industry partners.

The project period of the second phase of BIGCO2 is 2007-2011, and the total budget for BIGCO2 from the start is 25M€.