E.ON and Siemens are starting up a pilot CO2 capture plant at the E.ON power plant Staudinger in Grosskrotzenburg near Hanau, Germany. The two companies are thus pushing further ahead with the development of a process geared toward climate-friendly coal-based power generation. A lab-proven process is to be employed under real operating conditions at the power plant’s hard-coal-fired Staudinger Unit 5. The pilot plant will be operated with part of the flue gas from Unit 5. E.ON and Siemens intend to run the facility until the end of 2010. The results achieved and the operating performance of the pilot plant will serve as the basis for large-scale demonstration of the technology, which is scheduled to start operation in the middle of the next decade.

In the future, it will not be possible to meet rapidly growing power demand without using fossil fuels such as coal and natural gas. “The challenge is to attain a significant reduction in the CO2 emissions associated with the combustion of fossil fuels. In this context CO2 capture and storage technologies will be of great importance,” said Michael Suess, CEO of the Fossil Power Generation Division of Siemens Energy. “These technologies are available but they have to be tested for deployment in large plants, developed further and brought to market readiness. The pilot facility in the Staudinger power plant marks a decisive step forward,” added Suess.

“As a major contribution toward climate protection, E.ON is planning industrial-scale CO2 capture and storage for coal-fired power plants starting in 2020. Operation of this new plant together with Siemens as part of our pilot fleet is an important step in this direction,” said Bernhard Fischer, E.ON’s CTO (Chief Technology Officer) and Member of the Management Board of E.ON Energie AG. Fischer added: “With the post-combustion process we are focusing on a highly promising CO2 capture technology, which can be retrofitted to existing power plants.”

The project is being sponsored by the German Federal Ministry of Economics under the terms of the COORETEC Initiative. It is part of the federal government’s 5th Energy Research Program “Innovation and New Energy Technologies” and promotes research and development in the field of low-CO2 power plant technologies.

Tags: E.ON, Siemens