Innovation in carbon capture to help China's carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals

The Chinese-European Emission-Reducing Solutions project (CHEERS), funded jointly by EU Horizon 2020, the Ministry of Science and Technology of the People’s Republic of China (MOST), with industrial support from TotalEnergies and Dongfang Boiler Group Co., Ltd (DBC), aims at demonstrating the CLC technology on a semi-industrial scale for application in the petroleum refining industry and the power industry. This five-year project was started in October 2017 and a 3 MW_th CLC plant (world biggest of its kind) will be installed on a DBC site in Deyang, China. Successful demonstration of CLC at this scale is a critical step towards implementing this as an industrial process.

CCUS introduction

Carbon capture utilization and storage (CCUS) is widely recognized as one of the best solutions to reduce carbon footprint of industrial activities and mitigate global warming. This new technology can help the world meet the target of keeping global temperatures from rising above 2 °C, compared to pre-industrial levels, by reducing the CO2 emission related to the usage of fossil fuels. CCUS is an innovative technology in which produced CO₂ is captured and then stored into its original place in an underground reservoir or used to produce other products such as chemicals.

CLC

The most expensive and complicated part of CCUS chain is the first step – CO2 capture. Today, there exist different technologies among which Chemical Looping Combustion (CLC) is the one of most promising with high energy efficiency and low cost. A metal oxide is used to transfer oxygen from the air reactor to the fuel reactor, where fuel is burned without direct contact with air. The resulting CO₂ from the combustion part of the process is not diluted with nitrogen from the air, hence, no additional CO₂ separation step is required. This is the main feature of the CLC process, which permits inherent CO₂ separation with a high degree of energy efficiency.

CHEERS Value Chain

Strong team-up from both China and EU

CHEERS is a flagship R&D project fully endorsed by EU and China government. Apart from that, its partners are from different fields with complementary expertise. IFP Energies nouvelles (IFPEN) from France is a major research and training player in the fields of energy, transport and the environment; Tsinghua University (THU) is the No.1 university in China, developing at a breathtaking pace into a comprehensive research university; SINTEF is a Norwegian research institute and also the largest independent research organization in Scandinavia; DBC is the first-class and the largest suppliers of thermal power equipment, nuclear power equipment, power plant auxiliaries and chemical vessels, will mainly play a role as equipment manufacturer in this project; TotalEnergies who is actually the end user for CLC, is a French major energy player committed to supplying affordable energy to a growing population, addressing climate change and meeting new customer expectations.

Technical advancement with tested confidence

Both the refinery and power industries are key sectors for reducing CO₂ emissions. Utilizing the CLC technology can reduce CO₂ emissions from a solid fuel combustion unit by achieving a carbon capture rate of up to 96 per cent. Additionally, the inherent CO₂ separation in the CLC system permits high electrical efficiencies above 38 per cent (compared to conventional steam cycle), which means that the CO₂ energy penalty could be as low as 4 per cent. CLC is thus a promising technology that can provide clean energy from solid fuels such as biomass, petroleum coke (petcoke) or coal. Scientists have well tested this technology in different laboratory plants, such as a 10 kWth at IFPEN, a 30 kWth at THU, and a 150 kWth at SINTEF. A cold mock-up model of 1.5 MWth equivalent has been built, and successfully operated in 2019.

Significance as a Sino-EU collaboration prototype

China and Europe have many commonalities and differences in values and interests, all of which help cause the duality of Sino-European relations. Jointly financed by EU and China, the CHEERS project was kicked off in a prime time, in answering to the international commitment of carbon neutrality. Unlike other projects, the scientific research of CHEERS is undertaken by both European and Chinese at the same time, which can at maximum activate the potentials among partners. As clearly defined, all research fruits, including but not limited to patents, experimental data and operation experience, shall be shared ultimately by the consortium. Moreover, the project team is also assessing to establish a CLC alliance in the coming years to further mature the technology and strive for higher commercialization. The success of the CHEERS can lead to a success of Sino-EU collaboration model, helping governors gain more confidence and determination, especially on the R&D aspects.

CHEERS reached the FID to kick off EPC¹ phase

CHEERS project has just started its EPC phase of a 3 MW Chemical Looping Combustion (CLC) pilot plant in Deyang, Sichuan province, after the consortium reached a Final Investment Decision (FID) in early September. With a successful closeout of FEED² phase consuming 10 months, the R&D project receives sufficient certainty about technological feasibility and cost forecast. This paves the way for CHEERS to steadily come to an end and fulfill its missions. Teamed up by 9 EU-Sino partners including TotalEnergies, CHEERS aims to demonstrate a highly promising CO₂ capture technology, which can be widely applied by petrochemical or power supply industries for carbon neutrality development.

EPC¹: Short for Engineering, Procurement and Construction

FEED²: Front-End Engineering Design, outcomes of which are the basis to initiate EPC