The Energy research Centre of the Netherlands will play a major role in the international consortium CACHET. CACHET is a three-year, integrated research project, funded by the European Commission that aims to develop technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from power stations by 90 percent.
ECN project manager Daniel Jansen about the project: "CACHET is a strong and diverse international consortium of highly experienced research institutes, universities, energy businesses, engineering and manufacturing companies. It is co-ordinated by BP with participants from EU Member states and EU acceding and associated countries, for example USA, Canada, China and Brazil, and is related to the joint industry/government CO2 Capture Project (CCP). BP considered ECN to be an important partner for CACHET, because for several years, ECN is investigating carbon dioxide capture within the Dutch CATO project."
Modern combined cycle power plant on natural gas. In the near future a similar power plant could be equipped with 'CACHET' technology to capture carbon dioxide (CO2).
Electricity production is one of the major sources of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2). Carbon dioxide capture from power stations and subsequent geological storage has the potential to bring about significant reductions in global greenhouse gas emissions. Operating within European Commission FP6 Integrated Project guidelines, the objective of the project is to develop innovative technologies for hydrogen production from natural gas, halving the cost of low-carbon energy. The hydrogen produced can be used to provide electricity, for example in a gas turbine combined cycle, with water as the only by-product. The carbon dioxide isolated in this manner is stored in, for example, aquifers or empty gas fields, which makes a nearly CO2-free production of hydrogen or (subsequently) electrical power possible. Several promising technologies will be further developed, evaluated and cost estimated on a consistent, integrated basis within the framework of the CACHET project.
CACHET will focus on developing four pre-combustion carbon capture technologies that have been identified as the most promising for conversion of natural gas to hydrogen while simultaneously capturing carbon dioxide. All of the selected technologies are still in the development phase and further resource is required to generate sufficient technical performance and cost data for economic assessment and technology risk analysis.
At ECN in the Netherlands, multiple test systems will be built. One system will be equipped for testing membrane reactors in which natural gas will be converted directly into hydrogen while simultaneously capturing carbon dioxide. The hydrogen membranes will be developed in association with SINTEF, Norway, and Dalian, PRC. Two other systems will be used for testing SERP (Sorption Enhanced Reaction Process) technology. The SERP technology can be used to convert fossil fuel to separate flows of hydrogen and carbon dioxide. The development of novel CO2-selective sorbents and the design of the SERP process, is carried out in close collaboration with Air Products PLC, UK.. The total budget for ECN in the three-year Cachet project is 3.2 million Euros.
If successful, the new technologies could be ready for pilot testing by 2009, followed by pre-commercial demonstration, with commercial use expected around 2015.
Information
For further information on the Cachet project and a full list of participants, please see the website www.cachetco2.eu
Contact
Daniel Jansen
ECN Hydrogen & Clean Fossil Fuels
Tel. +31 (0)224 – 56 45 71
jansen@ecn.nl
Rome, 7-8 October 2013
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