Experimenting bioenergy with carbon capture at small pilot scale using three novel scrubbing technologies based on water, sodium carbonate and Kleener-liquid

Carbon capture is expected to have a major role in mitigation of the climate-warming CO2 emissions deriving from energy production and industry. Proven technologies for CO2 capture are available, but the high energy-intensity and harmful pollutants of state-of-the-art amine scrubbing has generated interest to find more efficient and eco-friendly technologies for carbon capture. In VTT’s BECCU project three eco-friendly alternatives to amine scrubbing were studied via practical experiments: (1) enhanced water scrubbing by CarbonReUse, (2) enhanced soda scrubbing by VTT, and (3) Kleener-liquid, a proprietary alkaline capture solvent by Kleener Power Solutions. The technologies were tested in a bioenergy with carbon capture test campaign at small pilot scale (TRL 5–6) during autumn of 2020 at Jyväskylä, Finland. All three technologies were proven functional in post-combustion capture at realistic conditions with promising performance, achieving capture rates around 70–90 % and product CO2 purities around 94–98 vol-%. More work is required to evaluate feasibility and economics of the technologies at full-scale.