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The Grenland region: the new hub for CO2 capture?

Researchers in the international ACT SCOPE project on CO2 capture visited Grenland and gained valuable insights from the industry.
collage, left portrait of woman with glasses and dark half-length hair, blue sweater and light shirt, posing, standing in an auditorium, some empty seats behind. On the right, two people close together, a man in a blue sweater and a woman with long fair hair, other people in the background talking together. Meeting room. ACT SCOPE visited Herøya recently: From left, Hanne Kvamsdal from SINTEF, the coordinator for the ACT SCOPE project; Christian Brekken, the host from Herøya Industripark AS; and on the far right, senior researcher Ragnhild Skagestad from SINTEF, who delivered one of the technical presentations.

Grenland and Herøya Industrial Park serve as a "case factory" for CO2 capture research, according to Christian Brekken, R&D agent at Herøya Industripark AS. ACT SCOPE is one of 15 R&D projects in which the company is participating.

ACT SCOPE - Accelerating CCS Technologies - is an international research project under the Climit programme and is funded by research councils and all participating countries. It includes two partners from the USA, three partners from India, and 19 partners in Europe. SCOPE's overarching goal is to support the development of technology for emission control and enable the harmonisation of regulations for amine-based CO2 capture facilities. The project runs until 2024.

Meeting industry leaders in the region

The research team met with key industry players, all of whom shared insights about industrial CO2 capture projects and other initiatives in Grenland, including:

  • Heidelberg Materials and carbon capture in Brevik
  • Yara - green ammonia - SKREI pilot plant
  • Grenland Industrial CO2 Capture and Storage initiative (GICCS)
  • EverLong CO2 capture and handling on ships

 

group of 12 people, smiling, posing, outside near a tree with autumn coloured leafes, and a car park behow.
Researchers and partners in the CO2 capture project ACT SCOPE, along with representatives from Yara, Powered by Telemark, and SINTEF Department of Industrial Process Design. The host for the meeting was Herøya Industripark AS.

 

Optimistic and impatient

Hanne Kvamsdal, from SINTEF, coordinates the ACT SCOPE project.

"It is particularly interesting to gain insight into significant CO2 capture initiatives here. In ACT SCOPE, we are now seeing concrete results. The goal is to provide authorities, those who issue emission permits, with a better and more accurate basis for setting realistic emission requirements for amines in CO2 capture," she said.

 

portrait of woman, smiling, posing, dark hair, dark rimmed glasses, auditorium, blue empty seats behind her.
Hanne Kvamsdal, from SINTEF, coordinates the ACT SCOPE project.

 

Are you optimistic that CO2 capture will succeed?

"We have the solution, but the initial implementations will be quite costly before gradually becoming more affordable. It is crucial to expedite this process. We, as researchers, believe it has been a lengthy journey. What matters most to us is to see tangible progress."

 

man and woman standing close next to eachother, people behind them, meeting room
Guided researchers on an industry visit: Christian Brekken from Herøya Industripark AS and one of the speakers at the meeting, senior researcher Ragnhild Skagestad from SINTEF, Department of Industrial Process Design in Herøya Research Park.
man stands in front of a large screen presenting GICCS on a slide
Magnar Bakke, project manager for Grenland Industrial CO2 Capture and Storage - GICCS, spoke about the carbon capture initiative, where industrial companies, in collaboration with SINTEF, aim to capture all CO2 emissions in Grenland. This totals approximately 1.2 million tonnes of emissions beyond the Langskip initiative at Heidelberg/Norcem in Brevik, and Yara's efforts to produce green ammonia.
man wearing yellow jacket presenting slide with letters SKREI project, short info
Reidar Tveit, Yara's project manager, mentioned that they are now preparing to launch the SKREI pilot, which enables producing green ammonia and fertilisers without CO2 emissions at Herøya.
A woman standing in front of a screen presenting a slide for the EverLong project.
Ragnhild Skagestad, a researcher at SINTEF, discussed EverLong, where they aim to find solutions for the capture and handling of CO2 on ships.
a group of people standing on a deck overlooking an industrial area and a building site for the construction of a carbon capture plant
The research team visited Heidelberg Materials, Norcem, in Brevik, and studied the carbon capture facility.

 

Read more:

Heidelberg Materials and carbon capture in Brevik

Yara - green ammonia - pilot SKREI

Grenland Industrial CO2 Capture and Storage (GICCS) satsing og

EverLong CO2-fangst og håndtering på skip.

All research projects can find a collaboration partner here

 

 

Text/photo: Siri Krohn-Fagervoll   siri@krohnfagervoll.no 

09. November 2023

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