Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) has signed a licence agreement for its carbon dioxide (CO2) recovery technology to United Arab Emirates-based Ruwais Fertilizer Industries (FERTIL).

The company will use the technology at its existing urea fertilizer production plant approximately 250km west of Abu Dhabi. The unit, slated for completion at the end of 2008, will be able to capture 400 tonnes of CO2 per day.

The technology recovers CO2 from flue gas absorbed into the KS-1 proprietary solvent, which MHI jointly developed with Kansai Electric Power Co, which is then synthesized with ammonia for use as feedstock for urea production. The technology can recover approximately 90% of the CO2 in flue gas.

MHI’s CO2 recovery technology, officially known as the Kansai-Mitsubishi proprietary Carbon Dioxide Recovery Process (KM CDR Process), offers comparably lower energy consumption than other methods, the company says.