Powering up without the CO2 emissions

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our or .

| Sourced From |

Doosan has become the first to develop technology that will enable coal power plants to generate electricity without emitting carbon dioxide.

Doosan Babcock, a U.K. subsidiary of Doosan Heavy Industries and Construction, said yesterday it demonstrated its “OxyCoal” clean combustion system on a 40-megawatt burner at its research facility in Renfrew, Scotland, on Friday, local time.

The system captures and stores the carbon dioxide emitted from burning coal as power is generated.

“There are numerous researchers around the world trying to develop a low-carbon power generator, but Doosan Babcock is the first in the world to develop technology that can be commercialized immediately,” said Park Gee-won, president of Doosan Heavy Industries and Construction.

Competitors include Alstom of France and B&W of the United States.

“With the development of the clean combustion system we will gain the upper hand in the low-carbon power generator market,” Park said.

Babcock has been researching the technology since 1992 and has invested a total of 30 billion won ($24 million) in its development.

Coal power plants generally produce 500 to 800 megawatts of electricity, using turbines that turn with the force of high temperatures and the pressure created from coal-heated boiled water.

With the OxyCoal clean combustion system, the coal is fired with oxygen, rather than with an injection of oxygen and nitrogen as is done at most coal power plants. As a result, only concentrated carbon dioxide and water are produced from the gas emitted.

In the previous firing process, it was difficult to capture the carbon dioxide that was emitted since other elements such as water and nitrogen were mixed together. With the new clean combustion system full-scale carbon capture is possible.

Doosan Heavy Industries secured the technology by investing in HTC, a Canadian company that specializes in carbon capture, last year.

The technology will make it possible to produce the amount of electricity equivalent to that produced by the 500- and 800-megawatt coal power plants with several 40-megawatt boilers.

The low-carbon power generator technology is expected to create a global market of 50 to 60 trillion won after 2013, when the post-Kyoto Protocol era begins.