Decarbonisation Technology - February 2023

Advances in carbon capture and hydrogen technologies Carbon capture and hydrogen purification technologies can significantly reduce CO 2 emissions and support the growing hydrogen economy

Mei Chia Honeywell UOP

C arbon capture and storage is essential to achieve net zero by 2050. Today, 15 million tons per year of CO 2 is being captured and used in storage/utilisation applications through Honeywell’s CO 2 Solutions process expertise. Current customers have the capacity to capture 40 million tons of CO 2 per year through installed projects worldwide that utilise Honeywell CO 2 technology. 1 Most of these projects are in North America and Europe due to the combination of supportive policy with developing infrastructure for the transport of CO 2 together with suitable locations for long-term storage. Carbon capture can be applied for post- combustion capture from power plants and natural gas. Honeywell’s UOP division has over five decades of experience in upstream gas processing, with a broad portfolio of technologies, including cryogenic technologies, pressure swing adsorption, molecular sieves and solvents, for the separation of CO 2 from the natural gas stream. The company is now applying this experience to capturing CO 2 from post-combustion flue gases (see Figure 1 ). Advanced solvent for carbon capture Honeywell recently announced a collaboration with Dr Gary Rochelle from the University of Texas (UT), Austin and has licensed its advanced solvent technology for its own use. Combining UOP’s process development experience with Dr Rochelle’s expertise in chemistry will accelerate the commercialisation of this technology, which can be retrofitted within existing plants or included in new unit designs. Honeywell UOP carbon capture technologies help customers capture 15 million tons of CO 2

CO product

Compressor & coolers

High pressure stripper

Air/water cooling

Wash water

Novel heat exch design

Flue gas/ industrial gas

Steam Cond

Figure 1 Flue gas CO 2 capture

per year, equivalent to the emissions of more than 3 million cars on the road. 2 The higher efficiency allows the unit designs to be smaller and lower cost, resulting in project economics that are viable under the current CO 2 policy frameworks in North America and Europe. Carbon capture technology is an important lever to reduce emissions from energy-intensive industries such as steel and cement as well as power. CCUS capacity must increase more than 20 times to enable the capture of 840 Mt/a CO 2 by 2030, in line with the IEA Sustainable Development Scenario. However, enabling policies are not yet in place in many countries. Active projects While projects in North America and Europe have proven the concept, implementation in Asia will be key to achieving the UN’s climate goal whilst being the biggest obstacle to overcome. Recently commissioned coal power capacity in China, India, and Vietnam will continue to operate for the next 2-3 decades. Retrofitting