Projects on CO2
CAPRICE
This project began on 1 January 2007. TNO, a Dutch organization, is running it. CAPRICE stands for CO2 capture using Amine Process International Cooperation and Exchange and involves pooling information and research findings on amine-enabled CO2 capture with non-European CSLF countries.
More specifically, findings from the European Castor project’s MEA (Mono-Ethanol-Amine) chapter will be compared with those of the University of Regina (Canada) and ITC (International Test Center).
CAPRICE is funded by the European Union and is scheduled to last two years. It counts:
- 10 research centers (Regina University, Alberta Research Council, International Test Center, Energy Inet, IFP, Trondheim University, Stuttgart University, Tsinghua University, Topchiev Institute of Petrochemical Synthesis, and Salvador University);
- 3 industrial electricity companies (E-ON, Dong Energy and Vattenfall).
CASTOR
- 30 industrial firms (Dong Energy, Vattenfall, Repsol, Statoil, Gaz de France, Rohoel, etc),
- 12 research institutes (IFP, BGRM, Imperial College, TNO, BGS, IFP, etc.).
Its specific goals involve halving the cost of capturing and separating CO2, developing the geological-storage concept’s efficiency, safety and security while limiting its environmental impact, and testing it in real-life, industrial-scale facilities.
It inaugurated its pilot industrial facility alongside a power plant run by Dong Energy (formerly Elsam) in Esbjerg, Denmark, on 15 mars 2006. This facility can capture one ton of CO2 an hour. By running this program, IFP is contributing to European research in the area of curbing climate change.
www.co2castor.com
More information on the industrial pilot unit of the Castor project
CO2GeoNet
This five-year-long FP6-funded project was launched in 2004 and aims to improve CO2 storage conditions in deep geological strata. It counts 13 partner universities and research centers from France (IFP, BRGM), the UK (BGS, Imperial College, Heriot-Watt University), Norway (SINTEF, IRIS, NIVA), Italy (OGS, University of Rome), Germany (BGR), Holland (TNO) and Denmark (GEUS).
At this point, the emphasis is on developing new CO2 storage methods and optimizing numerical modeling tools. Other goals include encouraging long-term partnerships between research centers across Europe and identifying new research themes. Lastly, CO2GeoNet partners are responsible for circulating information and knowledge with a view to bolstering international exposure for European research in the field of CO2 geological storage.
www.co2geonet.com
CO2ReMoVe
CO2ReMoVe is an European project funded under FP6. The goal, here, is to research CO2 geological storage verification and surveillance systems.
This consortium counts 27 partners spanning industrial firms, research centers and service providers with experience in CO2 geological storage. They are working together to propose the development and application of a range of monitoring techniques, applied across an integrated portfolio of storage sites (Sleipner, Snovhit, In-Salah and Ketzin, for instance). In each of those sites, CO2ReMoVe is developing:
- methods for base-line site evaluation,
- new tools to monitor storage and possible well and surface leakage,
- new tools to predict and model long-term storage behavior and risk,
- rigorous risk-assessment methodologies for a variety of sites and time-scales,
- best-practice guidelines for industry, policy makers and regulators.
This project began on 1 March 2006 and will draw to a close on 1 March 2011.
www.co2remove.eu
COACH
FP6 project coordinated by IFP, an project stemming from the agreement to work together against global warming that the European Union and China signed in 2006. The eight Chinese and twelve European industrial firms, research centers and public-sector organizations working on this project will draft the technical recommendations required to design a coal-fired power plant in China. That plant will include facilities to capture CO2 and the project will also deal with transport and storage of CO2 in a mature oil and gas reservoir. Building work is scheduled to begin in 2011, and the capture and storage chain should come on stream in 2015.
ENCAP
Vattenfall, an energy company, is running ENCAP, FP6 project dealing with capturing CO2 from conventional power stations.
This project is focusing on oxycombustion and precombustion methods to capture CO2. It began in March 2004 and will last five years.
www.encapco2.org
EU GEOCAPACITY
This three-year project kicked off on 1 January 2006, with a view to developing a tool to appraise CO2 geological-storage capacity in aquifers, hydrocarbon reservoirs and unused coal seams.
The European Union is funding this project under FP6, and GEUS (Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland) is coordinating the 26 partners, which encompass:
- institutes of geology and universities: GEUS (the coordinator), US, RGN, CGS, IGTUT, BRGM, BGR, IGME, ELGI, OGS, IFP, LEGMA, IGG, TNO-NITG, Ecofys, MEERI, PBG, GeoEcoMar, SGUDS, GEO-INZ, IGME and BGS;
- industrial firms: EniTecnologie, ENDESA Generacion and Vattenfall;
- the Ministry of Science and Industry of the People’s Republic of China.
EU Geocapacity has picked up where GETSCO, another European project, left off. It will be using its findings to assess CO2 geological-storage capacity in China, mainly, as well as in current and future European Union Member States.
www.geocapacity.eu
INCA-CO2
Inca-CO2 (International Co-operation Actions on CO2 Capture and Storage), aims to coordinate and secure international exposure for Europe’s expertise in the field of CO2 capture.
- 6 European research centers: BGS (UK), BRGM (France), GEUS (Denmark), OGS (Italy), Sintef (Norway) and TNO (Holland);
- 4 leading industrial firms: Alstom, BP, Statoil and Vattenfall.
Partners are working simultaneously on a number of goals. They are identifying opportunities for future cooperation between Europe and countries outside it (Australia, Canada, the United States and Japan). They also provide European delegates to international organizations with all necessary input pertaining to this field of expertise.
