ENEL TEAMS UP ON CARBON CAPTURE IN CHINA

Conclusion of “four days” of meetings between Enel and representatives of China’s Ministry of Science and Technology as well as of research institutes and universities on the development of a CCS system for a power plant in Shaanxi province.
Enel, an European leader in CCS technology with its pilot plant in Brindisi and the Porto Tolle project, remains committed to transitioning to a “low-carbon” economy worldwide.

Rome, December 15th, 2011 – Today saw the conclusion of the “four day” meeting in Rome between Chinese and Italian researchers to discuss the criteria to be used in designing, building and operating power plants that use carbon capture systems. The Chinese delegation had returned from two-day visit to Enel’s pilot plant in Brindisi.
 
In attendance of the final working session were Enel’s Engineering and Innovation Division Managing Director, Livio Vido; head of natural gas storage, carbon capture and storage division at the Italian Economic Development Ministry, Liliana Panei; head of Italy-China cooperation at the Italian Environmental Ministry, Massimo Martinelli; and the Director for Cooperation with Europe, Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology, Zhou Longchao.

The meeting was an important step in the partnership begun with the protocol signed in September 2009 between the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology, the Italian Ministries of the Environment and Economic Development and Enel. A portion of the work involved agreeing upon the details, two years after the signing of the agreement, for the project to build a carbon capture system at the 600 MWe power plant in Tongchuan, in the province of Shaanxi, operated by China-Huaneng. The system involves reusing the CO2 captured to improve the extraction process at a nearby oil well.

China is one of those countries where the development of Carbon Capture & Storage (CCS) technology can have an enormous impact in reducing CO2 emissions into the atmosphere, and thus limiting the negative effects on climate change. The experience gained by Enel in designing and constructing the pilot CO2 capture system at the Federico II plant in Brindisi is a contributing factor to the success of the initiative. This facility, which opened last March with European Commissioner Gunther Oettinger in attendance, represents the first test of “zero emissions” technology supported by Europe with funding from the European Energy Programme for Recovery. With approximately 4,000 hours of operation, the Brindisi plant has already separated more than 8,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide and has become one of the concrete symbols of Europe’s commitment to demonstrating the technology.

The CO2 produced by the Brindisi plant will be transported at the ENI/Stogit site in Cortemaggiore (Piacenza), where it will be injected and permanently stored underground, creating the know-how for designing future applications of the technology on a large scale, with the aim of become the first integrated pilot CCS project in Italy.

The experience gained in Brindisi is being developed and applied in the project to build the carbon capture demonstration system at Enel’s Porto Tolle (Rovigo) plant, which was included in the road map of the Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum (CSLF) as one of most important projects in the world.

The CSLF is a voluntary initiative of developed nations and developing countries which account for 75% of all carbon dioxide emissions and that are committed to working together to develop technologies to reduce CO2.

Microsoft Word - Italia-Cina CCS inglese

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