BASF, RWE, Linde extend carbon capture

The chemical industry continues to show it can provide solutions to the problem or global warming. In Germany, BASF and Linde have been working with RWE Power to develop carbon capture technology to remove carbon dioxide from the exhaust gases of a lignite-fed power station at Niederaussem.

Already underway for four years, the project has just been extended, with another 6m euros invested, to optimise the scrubbing agents and equipment.

Different scrubbing agents have been tested since the pilot plant was commissioned in 2009, in three test phases of six months each, to identify an optimum solvent developed by BASF. Compared with processes commonly used, the energy input can be reduced by about 20% when using the new chemical solvent for CO₂ capture.

The new scrubbing agent also comes with increased stability and resistance to oxygen. This reduces the solvent consumption substantially.

In the test phase starting now and lasting to 2013, the structure of the CO₂ absorber will be optimised by Linde so that carbon dioxide can be removed more effectively from the flue gas.

Bayer uses carbon dioxide as raw material in PUs

Scientists around the globe are searching for ways of using the vast amounts of CO2 greenhouse gas released during energy production. The molecule is a very stable one, but Bayer has come up with a process that uses the gas in the manufacture of polyurethanes.

The pilot plant is inaugurated

It has just started up a pilot plant at its Leverkusen site to test the innovation on a technical scale. Bayer is not giving much away at this stage, but says simply that "the plant produces a chemical precursor into which CO2 is incorporated and then processed into polyurethanes... as a result, the waste gas and key contributor to climate change can now be recycled and used as a raw material and substitute for petroleum." 

The innovation is the result of work carried out by Bayer, energy company RWE and RWTH Aachen University. Bayer and the university jointly run the CAT Catalytic Centre, which has developed the breakthrough catalyst used.

If the testing phase goes well, Bayer hopes to have the new process in commercial use by 2105.