By EnergyTech Staff
Metal manufacturing company Elkem has inaugurated a carbon capture pilot for smelters at its plant in Norway.
Delivered by Aker Carbon Capture, the Mobile Test Unit (MTU) has been connected to Elkem’s plant in Rana, which produces microsilica and ferrosilicon using renewable hydropower. Elkem says it’s the first such project in the world for smelters.
“The Mobile Test Unit was built in 2008 and has continuously been upgraded in accordance with our latest technology developments,” Chief Executive Officer at Aker Carbon Capture, Valborg Lundegaard said.
The company can therefore “offer our customers a unique opportunity to test our technology at their site and de-risk the project prior to a possible full-scale implementation.”
The pilot is a collaboration between Elkem and other partners, with the goal of capturing 1.5 million tons of CO2 from their combined emissions. Partner firms include SMA Mineral, Mo Industripark, SINTEF, Celsa Group, Alcoa, Ferroglobe, NorFraKalk, ACT Cluster, Norcem and Aker Carbon Capture.
Testing is expected to begin in a couple of months at SMA Mineral.
The pilot is part of a larger R&D project, CO2 HUB Nord, which is funded by Climit Demo and runs over two years. The project is mainly aimed at verifying the technology on real industrial gases from smelters and other process industries, in order to prepare a full-scale plant for industrial carbon capture.
Carbon capture and storage could allow industrials and power generators to continue utilizing baseload fossil fuels with high energy density but still lower their emissions. Several companies are trying CCS projects in the US.
“Carbon capture can potentially contribute significantly towards our global climate roadmap of reducing emissions towards net zero while growing supplies to the green transition,” Elkem’s CEO Helge Aasen said.
“At the same time,Elkem is dependent on our stakeholders to enable green technologies at an industrial scale. That is why we are particularly pleased about the good collaboration between several partners in this project, and we will monitor the results of the pilot closely,” Aasen added.
Elkem is a Norway-based provider of advanced material solutions. It develops silicones, silicon products and carbon solutions by combining natural raw materials, renewable energy and human ingenuity.
