On September 24, 2020, Kansai Electric Power (KEPCO, Headquarters: Osaka Prefecture); Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI, Headquarters: Tokyo)[1], a heavy machinery manufacturer; and the Research Institute of Innovative Technology for the Earth (RITE, Headquarters: Kyoto), a research institution that develops carbon dioxide capture and storage technologies[2], announced that they had reached an agreement to conduct a joint study on “Applicability to Capture Gas Generated by Coal Combustion using CO2 Solid Sorbents.”
KHI and RITE will work with KEPCO to build a pilot-scale test facility with a CO2 capture capacity of 40t-CO/day at KEPCO’s Maizuru coal-fired power plant to conduct the demonstration project. They were selected and financially supported by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO, Headquarters: Tokyo), a Japan-based public funding organization that promotes the development and deployment of new clean energy technologies. The project marks the first demonstration test in Japan using solid sorbents for CO2 separation and capture at a thermal power plant. The method has the potential to significantly reduce the energy required for CO2 separation compared with conventional technologies.
The test facility is expected to begin the CO2 capture demonstration test in FY2022. KHI will be responsible for designing and constructing the test facility and conducting the CO2 capture and recovery test. KHI and RITE have been developing a solid absorber and a Kawasaki CO2 Capture (KCC) system for separating and recovering CO2 under the Carbon Dioxide Recovery Technology Practical Use Research Project, which was commissioned by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) in FY2015. Since 2016, KEPCO has been collaborating with them toward the implementation of a pilot-scale tests to evaluate the durability and economic feasibility for solid sorbents at the Maizuru coal-fired power plant.
By leveraging the knowledge developed through the efforts of KEPCO’s engineering services branch, the Kansai-Value Creation Service (K-VaCS), KEPCO hopes to continue to contribute to the reduction of CO2 emissions and move towards a low-carbon society.[3] [4]
[1] https://www.khi.co.jp/corporate/outline.html
[2] http://www.rite.or.jp/en/about/outline/
[3] https://www.kepco.co.jp/corporate/pr/2020/pdf/0924_1j_01.pdf