– It is great that we once again can again meet our good partners in the USA physically at this arena, says Managing Director Muhammad Ismail Shah. TCM is represented at the conference by Head of Business Development, Freddy Garcia, and Acting Technology Manager, Matthew Campbell.

The Pittsburgh conference is organized by the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), https://netl.doe.gov/, which, on behalf of the US Department of Energy (DoE), works to stimulate research and development of measures that contribute to a reduction in emissions of greenhouse gases, including the capture and storage of CO₂. The DoE has participated in fundng a number of test campaigns at Mongstad, most recently for RTI International which will end its six-month campaign with a new solvent next month, read https://tcmda.com/rti-is-testing-at-tcm-so-far-so-good/.

An arena for exchange of experiences

At the conference, everything that can crawl and go by expertise in climate technology in the USA as well as other parts of the world meets to exchange experiences. – Capture and storage of CO₂ (CCS) is one of several topics that will be highlighted. From TCM we are using the opportunity to inform the participants about the measures and the leadership Norwegian industry, in collaboration with the authorities, is taking to realize full-scale capture and storage. Longship is the biggest climate project in Norway, Shah emphasizes.

– For TCM, it is also important to talk about the opportunities we offer for testing and verification of both mature and new technologies. Here we get good help from representatives from American companies who have been at Mongstad, and who can elaborate on their experiences with testing at the amine plant and in the test area for new technologies – and the assistance TCM has been able to provide. TCM enjoys great recognition internationally, but it is important for us to constantly reach out with our offers and advantages to new companies and people working on the development of CCS technology.

A gigantic CCS project

In the presentation of Longship at the conference, TCM emphasizes that the transport and storage part of the project, Northern Lights, will benefit various industries throughout Europe. – Reduction of emissions of greenhouse gases is necessary in all sectors for Europe to reach the goals of the Paris Agreement. CCS technology is a tool that makes it possible to maintain acitivity and jobs in industries with high emissions.

Shah points out that the Norwegian oil and gas industry has been capturing and storing CO₂ for more than 25 years. At the Sleipner field, more than 1 million tonnes of CO₂ is separated from natural gas and stored annually. Similiary, at Snøhvit, since 2008, up to 700,000 tonnes have been stored annually. Transport of CO₂ to the European continent has taken place for several years and is used in the food industry.

The Longship project includes the construction of a large capture facility at Heidelberg Materials’s cement factory in Brevik and one adjacent to the waste management facility at Klemetsrud in Oslo – with transport of liquid on purpose-built ships to the reception facility in Øygarden – and then storage in a reservoir under the seabed in the North Sea. From 2024, Northern Lights will have the capacity to store 1.5 million tonnes CO₂ annually, and in the next phase 5 – 7 million tonnes.

Longship will provide valuable learning

– An important goal of Longship is to demonstrate safe and feasible handling of CO₂. The project will involve a lot of learning and enable cost reductions for subsequent projects, by sharing knowledge both domestically and abroad. For TCM’s part, we see significant tasks in contributng with our expertise for the successful implementation of Longship and projets in the same category that are being planned in several European countries, says Muhammad ismail Shah.