Vattenfall joins Oxycoal UK project

Stockholm - Swedish power company Vattenfall has joined Oxycoal UK - a project aimed at developing competitive Oxyfuel technology suitable for full-scale plant applications.

The Oxyfuel process, which can be used in the capture of carbon dioxide, involves burning coal in a mixture of high-purity oxygen and recycled gas to produce a gas rich in carbon dioxide. The gas can then be purified and compressed for transportation and storage.

"Vattenfall has been working with development of Carbon Capture and Storage technology since 2001, and it is of great interest for us to become part of the Oxycoal UK project, one of the most advanced projects in Europe alongside our own Schwarze Pumpe pilot plant," said Göran Lindgren, CCS project manager.

The Oxycoal UK project is led by Doosan Babcock and run by a group of industrial sponsors and university partners. The project, which is to receive £330,000 from Vattenfall, will run until November 2009.  Vattenfall's Oxyfuel pilot plant in Schwarze Pumpe was inaugurated in September 2008.

During 2008 Vattenfall also presented plans for new CCS demonstration plants in Denmark and Germany. The company's aim is for the CCS technology to be commercially viable in 2020.