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19 February 2008 - Doosan Babcock is to demonstrate its 'Oxycoal' carbon capture technology, which has the financial backing of the UK government and utilities such as Southern & Scottish Energy, EDF and E.ON, on a full-scale level at a Scottish test site.
The Korean-based firm will modify its unique multifuel burner test rig at Renfrew to accommodate Oxycoal firing on pulverised coal with recycled flue gas, and demonstrate the operation of a full-scale 40 MW burner for use in coal fired boilers, suitable both for new power plants and retrofit applications.
The first demonstration is scheduled for end-March 2009.
Carbon capture requires the separation of carbon dioxide from the main component in the flue gas - normally nitrogen.
In Oxycoal firing separation is acheived by separating the air into oxygen and nitrogen and then burning the coal in the oxygen. The result is an almost pure carbon dioxide stream, which then compressed for piping away.
The £7.4m ($14.7m) project is being supported by the Department of Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) under its Carbon Abatement Technologies demonstration programmme and by a group of sponsors including Scottish & Southern Energy, E.ON, EDF, Scottish Power, DONG and Drax, as well as university partners Imperial College London and the University of Nottingham.
Dr Mike Farley, Doosan's director of technology policy, said: "We believe retrofitting coal fired plants with carbon capture is technically and economically viable, and this project forms part of a commercial demonstration."
Dr Farley added that the loss of efficiency caused by operating the Oxycoal system's air separation unit and carbon dioxide compressor - as much as 10 per cent - would eventually be reduced - perhaps to around seven per cent - through research and development.
Ian Marchant, chief executive of prime sponsors Scottish & Southern Energy, told Power Engineering International: "There has been too much talk about carbon capture and very little delivery. This is actually happening at a real-life functional phase. We need to do everything we can to find low-cost carbon mitigation. We need to invest in R & D and worry about the deployment later."
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