Norwegian company Aker Clean Carbon (ACC) has won the Porto Tolle carbon capture and storage (CCS) contract from the Italian energy provider Enel.

ACC will be responsible for undertaking a front end engineering and design (FEED) study for Enel’s Porto Tolle Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Capture Unit Project, Bellona reported.

The study will be completed in the first quarter of 2011 that includes the estimation for the capital investment and the operational cost of the CO2 capture unit.

The European Commission selected the Porto Tolle site as one of the projects to be financed under the European Economic Plan for Recovery (EEPR).

The project consists in the CO2 extraction (about 1 million tonnes/year) and compression, and its transport through pipeline to a saline aquifer beneath the Adriatic Sea, where it will be stored.

ACC said that one of the four oil-fired power generation units of the Porto Tolle site, Unit 4, will be partially dismantled to provide space for a CO2 capture unit to be associated with Unit 3.

The CO2 capture unit will operate for an extended period of time for fully demonstrating the technology on an industrial scale and providing a commercial solution for new installations after 2020.

Aker Clean Carbon is currently working on the construction of the advanced amine plant at Technology Centre Mongstad (to be completed in 2011).