Alstom ammonia process selected for CO2 capture plant in Romania

The Romanian government, in February 2010, issued an action plan to implement a carbon capture demonstration project in Romania. Following this commitment the Institute for Studies and Power Engineering (ISPE) together with the National Institute for Research and Development of Marine Geology and Geoecology (GeoEcoMar) are now engaged in the first integrated ‘Romanian CCS Demo Project’, currently at the feasibility study stage, with the aim of demonstrating CO2 capture technology at the Turceni power plant together with CO2 pipeline transportation and onshore storage.

After a thorough technology evaluation phase, ISPE as CCS project manager and Turceni PP have selected Alstom’s proprietary chilled ammonia process (CAP) as the basis for the development of the carbon capture plant and have awarded a feasibility study to Alstom carbon capture systems. The CAP technology is claimed to offer a highly efficient process reducing the amount of energy required to capture CO2 when compared to other available technologies. It is already in operation on pilots and validation facilities elsewhere.

The carbon capture plant will be integrated into Unit 6 at the Turceni power plant which will at the same time be retrofitted to a capacity of 330MWe.

The ‘Romanian CCS Demo Project’ represents the very first step towards realising the CCS action plan of the Romanian government and will be presented as a candidate project for NER 300 funding in accordance with the ongoing EU process.