Aker, MAN team up on CCS tech

Aker Carbon Capture and MAN Energy Solutions have signed a technology-cooperation agreement to develop energy-efficient compression solutions for carbon capture and storage (CCS) applications with heat recovery.

The agreement supports the companies’ joint target to reduce the cost of removing CO2 emissions from industrial plants around the world.

“Through this partnership, we intend to further improve the process efficiency and thereby lower the cost of carbon capture to the benefit of our clients and the environment,” said Valborg Lundegaard, CEO of Aker Carbon Capture.

“Carbon capture and storage will play a major role in a decarbonized future. This technology contributes both to reducing emissions in key sectors directly, and to removing CO2 to balance unavoidable emissions, which is critical with regard to the targets of the Paris Agreement,” Uwe Lauber, CEO of MAN Energy Solutions said.

With CCS, captured CO2 is compressed before being liquefied and transported to a permanent storage location. The two companies aim to develop carbon capture solutions that require less energy.

The transfer of heat is key for CO2-capture plants’ improved, overall power-consumption with MAN Energy Solutions able to recover heat from its compression systems. Hence, the steam generated will cover nearly 50 per cent of the power demand for Aker Carbon Capture’s capture plant.

The technology-cooperation agreement will run for seven years and forms the basis for project deliveries to carbon-capture plants.

Solutions will be applicable for large facilities, such as the Heidelberg Cement Norcem cement plant in Brevik, Norway where Aker Carbon Capture will deliver a carbon-capture plant using the company’s patented and HSE-friendly CCS technology.

Subject to parliamentary approval of the funding, this will represent the first time that CCS will have been deployed at scale at a cement factory anywhere in the world.