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Vattenfall Janschwalde

 
Vattenfall Janschwalde Fact Sheet: Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage Project

Company/Alliance: Vattenfall
Location: Janschwalde, Brandenburg, Germany
Feedstock: Coal (lignite) from nearby open cast mines
Process: Pulverized coal (PC) boilers combusting lignite
Size: 300 MW total. 250 Oxyfuel block and 50MW post combustion. 1.7 MT/Yr capture a year.
Capture Technology: Oxyfuel combustion and post-combustion
CO2 Fate: Onshore saline formation delivered via pipeline
Timing: Announced May 2008. Feasibility studies (2008); Application for permits (2009); Construction of new boiler start (2011); Full scale operation (2015).

Motivation/Economics: Total investment is €1.5 billion ($2.2 billion) invested by Vattenfall. €1.2 billion for capture and €0.3 billion for transport and storage. Awarded €180 million from European Programme for Energy Recovery (EEPR) in December 2009. Vattenfall has submitted an application for the EU's NER300 funding.

Comments: This is Vattenfall's larger scale demonstration project after the pilot plant at Schwarze Pumpe was opened in 2009. Janschwalde is the largest coal fired power station and the largest CO2 emitter (25 MT/Yr) in Germany. Vattenfall is in the final engineering phase for a demo plant in Jänschwalde. This constitutes a completely new block of 250 MW capacity (in addition to the existing six blocks of 500 MW each) at that site. In addition to this Vattenfall will rebuild one of the existing blocks (block F) and add CO2 capture with post combustion technology on a slip stream corresponding to 50 MW capacity. It will go into operation in 2015.
The probable storage sites are Mesozoic and Cenozoic sandstones in the eastern part of the North-German Basin. They contain open and closed structures at a depth of 900 to 4000 meters. The 2 structure formations are the Birkholz structure (50 km distance from the project) and the Neutrebbin structure (140 km from Janschwalde power plant). The main land use in this area is agricultural and forestry.

Project Link: Vattenfall Jänschwalde demonstration plant webpage

Vattenfall's project on CCS is carried out stepwise such as below,  where the results of each phase is evaluated before the next phase begins.

  • Test rigs
  • Pilot plants
  • Demonstrations plants
  • Commercial concepts

Test rigs

Six Oxyfuel test rigs in cooperation with universities.

Vattenfall supports a number of Swedish and German universities in their research on the Oxyfuel technology such as below: 

  • BTU – Brandenburg Technical University
  • Chalmers
  • CLC Darmstadt
  • TU Dresden
  • TU Hamburg-Harburg
  • IVD – Stuttgart

 

Pilot plants

The construction of the 30 MW thermal pilot plant at Schwarze Pumpe in Germany is an important milestone for the Vattenfall project. It is the necessary scale-up link between initial engineering and successful operation of the future 250—350 MW electricity demonstration plant.

The pilot plant has been in operation from the middle of 2008. The initial testing programme will run for three years. Thereafter, the pilot plant will be available for other tests. The plant is planned to be in operation for at least 10 years.
Lignite and hard coal will be combusted in a mixture of oxygen and re-circulated CO2, which also contains water vapour. The flue gas will then be treated and sulphuroxides, particles and other contaminants removed. Finally, the water will be condensed and the concentrated CO2 compressed into liquid.
The purpose of the pilot plant is to validate engineering work, to learn and better understand the dynamics of Oxyfuel combustion and to demonstrate the capture technology. Eventually, the pilot plant will be used for backup testing for the demonstration plant testing programme, once the latter has started.
The captured CO2 will be stored underground as soon as a suitable site has been identified and the necessary permit processes are completed.

 

The Vattenfall Demonstration plants

The Prototype Carbon Capture Unit is an exact, small-scale replica of a full carbon capture plant. It allows ScottishPower and Aker Clean Carbon to test the complex chemistry involved in capturing CO2 from power station flue gases.

Vattenfall's Demonstration plant at Jänschwalde (photomontage) The demonstration plant is the link between the pilot plant and the commercial concept that is to be developed.
In the demonstration plant, the technology’s commercial abilities will be proven whereas in the pilot plant the technology itself and the process will be validated. The pre-feasibility study for a demonstration plant started in mid-2006. Engineering is planned to start in 2010. The 250—350 MW electricity demonstration plant can be commissioned about five years later.

The plants will include all three components of the CCS concept; capture at the power plant, transport and a storage site. Several possible combinations of power plant sites, transport alternatives and storage sites are being studied. One of the most promising alternatives will be selected.
All three capture technologies are being investigated at present. The final choice depends on location, fuel choices, the demand for electricity and heat and storage and transport capacities. The outcome of tests at the pilot plant at Schwarze Pumpe and other pilot plants around the world will have a large impact on the final decisions on the design and location of the demonstration plant.

 
The commercial concepts

The goal of the project is to develop commercial concepts for carbon capture and storage at coal fired power plants by 2015-2020.