CO₂ capture and transport

Present day power plant technology is based on avoidance

In order to stop the existing critical heating of our planet, the emission of carbon dioxide (CO₂) into the atmosphere has to be reduced to zero. Due to the worldwide energy hunger especially in the emerging markets, a low-priced supply of electricity produced in coal power plants is inevitable in the future. In modern power plants the so-called CCS-technology (Carbon Capture and Storage) is used in order to reduce the CO₂ emission in the combustion process of fossil energy sources. It comprises the processes of capture, transport und the CO₂ storage in the underground. The climate-wrecking CO₂ is therefore not emitted into the atmosphere.

Oxyfuel process

Several processes of CO₂ capture are examined at the BTU Cottbus (Chairs of Power Plant Technology, Metallurgy and Material Engineering), like pre- and post-combustion. Focus on the energy research within GeoEn is the Oxyfuel technology.
The combustion in this Oxyfuel process is made with pure oxygen instead of ambient air. The flue gas is enriched with the climate-wrecking CO₂. The amount of CO₂ in the flue gas is nearly 90% and it will be processed further or stored. The first power plant with Oxyfuel technology was build and runs at the site Schwarze Pumpe.

The goal: Climate-friendly power plants

The processing of this core issue should result in an increase of efficiency of fossil based power plants and in the technical development within the whole process chain. Such power plant processes are for example the drying and the gasification of coal. A special attention is paid on novel energy conversion processes.

The focus within GeoEn will be the research on the Oxyfuel process and its technical marketability. For alternative combustion processes (pre- and post-combustion) optimal solutions should be found as well as for a low-priced oxygen supply. The goal is to create a model for the whole CCS process chain. Therefore the specific proceedings of the physical, chemical and thermodynamic processes are simulated and several process stages are investigated.

Further Information