Lacq Power Plant Retrofitted with Carbon Capture and Storage Technology

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--A gas-fired power plant in Lacq, France, has become the first of its kind in the world to be retrofitted with carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology. Total SA (NYSE:TOT) (Paris) upgraded one of the five steam boilers at the power plant to utilize the oxy-fuel method of CCS. The plant will begin operation with the new technology this month.

The Lacq power plant has been modified so that the exhaust gases from one of the 30-megawatt (MW) boilers are captured and burned in an atmosphere of pure oxygen, resulting in an output consisting almost entirely of carbon dioxide (CO2) and water vapor. The CO2 is then separated and pumped through a pipeline to the almost depleted Rousse natural gas field, where it is stored at a depth of 4,500 meters underground. The total cost of the power plant modifications and storage facility is $80 million.

Work at the Lacq power plant involved fitting the selected boiler four new burners and a cryogenic unit to cool the CO2. The modifications to retrofit the oxy-fuel system were designed and built by Alstom SA (EPA:ALO) (Levallois-Perret, France). Although the oxy-fuel CCS technology was used for the Lacq plant, Total has not ruled out the use of either pre- or post-combustion technologies in future installations.

The captured CO2 will be transported to the Rousse gas field storage area through an existing gas pipeline, which has been in use for the last 30 years to transport gas from the field to the plant. Total selected the Rousse gas field, once one of the largest onshore gas fields in Europe, as the storage location after careful consideration of the geology of the area. The gas field had been operated at pressures much higher than those proposed for storage of CO2. The field has no connections to underground water supplies. The field was thoroughly checked for any potential leaks, and new safety valves and a gas compressor were installed.

The project will run for a period of two years, producing and storing 60,000 tons per year of CO2, which would otherwise be released into the atmosphere. During the life of the project, sensors located at the wellhead and underground will monitor pressures and CO2 concentrations. After the two-year period, the storage area will be monitored using measures defined by Les Directions Regionales de l'Industrie de la Recherche et de l'Environnement (Paris) to confirm that CO2 can be safely stored.

The first experimental CCS-equipped power plant was developed at Schwarze Pumpe in Germany and came online in September 2008. The 12-MW coal-fired power plant captures 100,000 tons per year of CO2 and stores it 3,000 meters underground in a depleted gas field in Altmark. A CCS project is scheduled to come into operation in Abu Dhabi in 2014 and in California about 12 to 24 months thereafter.

Total is also working with StatoilHydro ASA (NYSE:STO) (Stavanger, Norway) to store more than 10 million tons of CO2 in a subsea aquifer, 1,000 meters below the seabed on the Norwegian continental shelf. Total is also involved in the removal and storage of 700,000 tons per year of CO2 from the Snohvit petroleum production plant in the Barents Sea.

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