Rotterdam, 20 November 2006 - Enecogen takes unique NOx emission reducing measures for the gas fired power station that is planned for Europoort. Also Enecogen studies further emission reduction by capturing CO2 using a revolutionary technique.
NOx emission reducing measures
Agreements have been made with the province of South–Holland on NOx emission reducing measures. Enecogen will invest in a so called Selective Catalytic Reduction installation (SCR) that may reduce the NOx emissions by 80% compared to without SCR. This technology is already applied by gas fired power stations in the United States, but not yet in Europe. With an SCR, Enecogen will be the most environmentally friendly large scale (840 MegaWatt) power station in the Netherlands.
Air quality in the Rijnmond area is under pressure due to the vast industrial activity, traffic and shipping. The NOx levels in the air are amongst the highest in Europe, and limit the economic growth of the region. In order be able to fulfil national air quality standards in future, it is important that the air quality improves in the Rijnmond region. Only this allows a sustainable growth and makes that projects like Maasvlakte 2 can be realised in a well-considered way.
As an important player in the infrastructure in the Rijnmond region Enecogen wishes to contribute to the air quality and as a result to economic growth potential. Also Enecogen pleads together with the Province of South–Holland and DCMR Milieudienst Rijnmond for nationwide more stringent NOx emissions levels for all power stations. With the investment in the SCR, Enecogen shows that such measures are technically and economically feasible.
Further emission reduction
To reduce the emission of the greenhouse gas CO2 and to give an extra support to achieving the Dutch Kyoto goals, ENECOGEN studies an innovative method of capturing CO2 from the flue gasses with cryogenic destillation. This method has potentially a much lower energy consumption as the process used so far, and also has a much higher sequestration performance. Cryogenic distillation uses the low temperature of the LNG from the adjacent LNG terminal from LionGas as a driver for the process. LionGas is a subsidiary of the world wide operating, Rotterdam based company 4Gas. If study results are positive, it is possible to add this technology to Enecogen at a later stage, first as a pilot and later on a full scale project. In that situation, only air will be emitted from the stack. More information on cryogenic distillation can be found at: www.enecogen.com.
The cryogenic distillation process captures the CO2 from the flue gasses only. After that it still needs to be stored. Parallel to the development of this process Enecogen wishes to consult in the coming period with the government and other organisations about the transport and storage of the CO2.
Extra high efficiency by supply of heat
On its own, the Enecogen power station uses its fuel gas efficiently. On top of that, Enecogen and LionGas study possibilities to further optimise the energy balance of both processes. For example, by supplying waste heat from Enecogen to LionGas. This may result in an efficiency of almost 70%. This efficiency may be increased further when additional waste heat can be supplied to other consumers in the area in the future.
Planning
Depending on the investment decision it is expected that Enecogen will become operational in 2010.