Germany's VDK Estimates Carbon Capture and Storage Will Reduce Emissions by 90 Million Tons by 2050

---

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Verein der Kohlenimporteure eV (VDK) (Hamburg, Germany), the German Coal Importer Federation, released a report suggesting that carbon-dioxide (CO2) emissions from Germany's coal-fired power stations could be reduced by as much as 90 million tons per year by 2050 through the use of the carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology.

The CCS technology has yet to be proven on a commercial scale, with one of the first large-scale plants scheduled to come online in 2014 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. However, a trial coal-fired plant, producing 12 megawatts (MW) of electricity and 30 MW of thermal power has been in operation in Schwarze Pumpe in northern Germany since September 2008, capturing an estimated 100,000 tons of CO2 per year.

The CCS technology removes harmful CO2 emissions by one of three methods. In the pre-combustion method, the CO2 content of coal is removed by gasification. This is achieved by heating coal to a high temperature and adding steam to produce hydrogen and CO2, which is then removed by absorption. The resulting hydrogen gas is then burned to produce power. The post-combustion method relies on CO2 being removed from combustion gases by absorption after the coal has been burned. In the third method, known as the oxyfuel method, coal is burned in an atmosphere of pure oxygen, which results in exhaust gases consisting almost entirely of CO2, which is then removed by absorption.

Regardless of the process used, the resulting CO2 is liquefied and stored underground, often in depleted oil fields, where the introduction of CO2 can often force large quantities of oil to rise to the surface, thus prolonging the life of the field.

Currently, around 25% of Germany's power generation comes from hard-coal-burning power stations that use imported steam coal. The majority of these power plants has an average age of thirty years and will need to be replaced in the near future. Another 25% of the power produced in Germany comes from power stations burning domestically produced brown coal. Newer power stations, built to replace the ageing power stations, have the potential to reduce CO2 emissions by 20% because of their increased thermal efficiencies. The new German plants, currently under construction or in the planning stage, will have an efficiency of around 45-50%. This compares favorably with the current worldwide average efficiency of around 31%. The remainder of the potential emission reduction is expected to be achieved through the introduction of the CCS technology.

Conservative forecasts on the viability of the CCS technology estimate that it will be commercially available by 2020. VDK forecasts that 30% of the plants built by 2030 would utilize the CCS technology. This number is estimated to increase to 60% in 2040 and to 100% by 2050.

VDK estimates that CO2 emissions from Germany's coal-fired power stations can be reduced from the current 115 million tons per year, which is just 0.44% of the global emissions from coal-fired power stations, down to a level of 21 million tons per year by 2050, representing a reduction of more than 81%.

Join Industrial Info at POWER-Gen-Europe May 26-28, 2009 in Cologne, Germany and get a hands-on demonstration of our industrial market databases!

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is a marketing information service specializing in industrial process, energy and financial related markets with products and services ranging from industry news, analytics, forecasting, plant and project databases, as well as multimedia services.