BASF Completes Pilot Project at National Carbon Capture Center
BASF recently announced it has completed a joint pilot project with The Linde Group to improve capture of carbon dioxide.
BASF recently announced it has completed a joint pilot project with The Linde Group to improve capture of carbon dioxide (CO2) from flue gas at a coal fired power plant at the National Carbon Capture Center (NCCC). The NCCC is a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) research facility managed and operated by Southern Co. in Wilsonville, Ala.
The technology used during the pilot project reportedly integrates BASF’s advanced aqueous amine-based solvent and process technology. Testing confirmed the main performance targets set for the facility. Specifically, it captured more than 90% CO2 from the flue gas, while the purity of the CO2 was more than 99.9%. The design capacity of the operation was up to 1.5 Megawatt-electric (MWe) and required less than 2.8 gigajoules of regeneration steam per metric ton of CO2. The NCCC includes a post-combustion carbon capture facility that reportedly allows testing and integration of advanced technologies using actual coal-derived flue gas from an 880-MW pulverized coal unit at Alabama Power’s Plant in Gaston. The pilot plant has operated at the facility for more than 1,200 hours at a higher regeneration pressure of 3.4 bar absolute, thereby reportedly demonstrating a cost advantage over other amine-based technologies.