Briefs: Development of liquid-ammonia-based CO2 capture is pacing up

Alstom, EPRI and We Energies are launching a pilot project in the United States, using a chilled liquid-ammonia-based solution in order to capture the CO2 rejected by coal-powered power plants. The system captures the gas before isolating it at high concentration and pressure levels. Studies foresee that potentially, up to 90% of the CO2 could be captured at a much lower cost than offered by other capture technologies. The energy cost of the operation would only amount to 10% compared with other technologies which use up to 30% energy. EPRI will analyse the costs, environmental and technical performance of the pilot test over a year.