China Huaneng, Australia Start Carbon-Capture Pilot Project
China Huaneng Group, the nation’s biggest electricity producer, together with government research agencies in China and Australia started a project to capture carbon dioxide emitted by a coal-fired power plant.
The pilot project will be the first instance of capturing carbon dioxide in China using the so-called post-combustion capture technology, Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, or CSIRO, said in an e-mailed statement.
The CSIRO estimates the technology could potentially cut carbon emissions from coal-fired generators by more than 85 percent. Earlier this month it completed Australia’s first trial using the technology, at the Loy Yang Power plant in Victoria state. It has plans for similar projects at generators in New South Wales and Queensland states, in addition to the China Huaneng project in Beijing.
The Chinese project will allow the technology “to be progressed in the Chinese energy sector which will have a much greater impact than operating in Australia alone,” David Brockway, head of CSIRO’s energy technology division, said in the statement. It will capture 3,000 metric tons a year of carbon dioxide, he said.
The Beijing project, which involves China’s Thermal Power Research Institute, may be followed by a much larger demonstration plant before being scaled up fully, CSIRO said. The technology uses a liquid to extract carbon dioxide from power- station waste gases. Australia is the world’s biggest coal exporter, while China is the world’s biggest producer and consumer of the fuel.
Tags: Huaneng, power