Post-combustion capture technology will be crucial in reducing carbon
dioxide emissions from coal-fuelled plants. Essentially, a system must be added
at the end of the existing flue-gases treatment process, which separates,
concentrates and prepares CO2 for transportation and
geological storage.
The challenge is to detect the best process for treating a large amount of
flue-gases (around 3 million CO2 tons per year for a 660 MW
coal unit), integrating it to the facility so as to limit performance loss.
Enel is developing a small-scale pilot project at the Brindisi power
station. The results of the tests to be performed using the pilot plant, will
be used to develop a full-scale demonstration project at the new Porto Tolle
clean coal power station. The project has been selected by the European
Commission within the European Economic Plan for Recovery as one of the
projects that will be financed.
The strategic goal is to have the demonstration plant in operation starting
from 2015.
