Capturing CO2 thanks to refrigeration

Intensive research into capturing the CO2 created in fossil-fuel-based electricity production has been carried out for several years by Alstom. One of the technologies used is post-combustion separation using a solvent (amine or chilled ammonia). It is currently the most advanced CO2-capturing technology and the latest results from Alstom show that it can remove up to 90% of CO2 from the combustion gases. It can be used in existing power stations and in the numerous power stations to be built by 2030 to meet the growing demand of developing countries. It can also be applied to coal-fired power stations and to combined cycle gas-fired power stations. Various pilot projects launched late 2007 aim at verifying the energy use and economic advantages of this technology. Alstom is also studying the oxy-combustion method which consists of burning a solid fuel in oxygen instead of air, thus releasing water and CO2 which is then very easy to capture.