Developing separation technology

E.ON Energie has signed cooperation agreements with international partners to further develop technologies for separating CO₂ from flue gases in three of its power stations.

E.ON Energie and Canada’s Cansolv Technologies will construct one of the new pilot plants in the Heyden power station and, in cooperation with US-based Fluor Corporation, build another one in Wilhelmshaven. The third plant will be installed in another one of E.ON’s German power stations in cooperation with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.

The three projects join four existing projects that E.ON is pursuing together with Alstom, Hitachi Power Europe, Siemens and TNO. The goal of all seven pilot projects is to optimise the downstream capture of CO₂ from flue gas (post-combustion capture).

Based on findings from the pilot projects, E.ON Energie plans to determine which of the technologies should be further developed for large-scale series production.

E.ON says that the development of CO₂ capture technology for coal-fired power stations is an important component of its climate protection activities. The company has set itself the goal of cutting its specific CO₂ emissions in half by 2030, compared to 1990 levels. The target is 360 grams per kilowatt hour of power by 2030.