How can we burn natural gas without releasing CO2 into the air? This feat is achieved using a special combustion method that TU Wien has been researching for years: chemical looping combustion (CLC). In this process, CO2 can be isolated during combustion without having to use any additional energy, which means it can then go on to be stored. This prevents it from being released into the atmosphere.
The method had already been applied successfully in a test facility with 100 kW fuel power. An international research project has now managed to increase the scale of the technology significantly, thus creating all the necessary conditions to enable a fully functional demonstration facility to be built in the 10 MW range.
How can we burn natural gas without releasing CO2 into the air? This feat is achieved using a special combustion method that TU Wien has been researching for years: chemical looping combustion (CLC). In this process, CO2 can be isolated during combustion without having to use any additional energy, which means it can then go on to be stored. This prevents it from being released into the atmosphere.
The method had already been applied successfully in a test facility with 100 kW fuel power. An international research project has now managed to increase the scale of the technology significantly, thus creating all the necessary conditions to enable a fully functional demonstration facility to be built in the 10 MW range.
Isolating CO2 from other flue gases
It is much cleaner to burn natural gas than to burn crude oil or coal. However, natural gas has the huge disadvantage that it generates CO2 during combustion, which has a detrimental effect on the climate. The CO2 is usually part of the flue gas mixture, together with nitrogen, water vapour and other substances. In this mixed form, the CO2 can neither be stored nor feasibly recycled.
"In the facilities we are working with, however, the combustion process is fundamentally different," explains Stefan Penthor from the Institute of Chemical Engineering at TU Wien. "With our combustion method, the natural gas does not come into contact with the air at all, because we divide the process into two separate chambers."
Read more at TU Wien
Image: Robert Pachler and Stephan Piesenberge in CLC-facility (Credits: TU Wien)
