When he soon leaves the company, he is many experiences richer, not only about the Norwegian climate but especially about carbon capture, and why listening to people’s problems is the first step towards net zero.

– What was the background for your interest in CO₂ capture?

– As part of my previous position in TotalEnergies, I had the opportunity to be part of the team building knowledge related to other parts of the CCUS chain, mainly on CO₂ conditioning, transportation by ship and pipeline and injection wells. From that point of view, CO₂ capture was the final piece of the puzzle missing for me to have a complete view of the whole chain. In addition, being a chemical engineer by education, with several years of experience in the upstream industry, going into carbon capture technologies seemed also like a natural transition.

– How was your first meeting with TCM?

– Let me start with the preamble to that meeting. As a south American living in France, my experience with snow was very limited. On the day of my first meeting, I was on my way to TCM, in the middle of February with temperature below zero, driving in the snow for the first time, stuck in traffic because there was a traffic accident along the way due to the icing conditions. So, I told myself that it must be extremely interesting opportunity for me to move and live under these extreme conditions. A couple of hours later I was convinced to accept the offer, after meeting with the highly motivated TCM team, walking along these state-of-the-art facilities, and understanding the impact on the society of the work that TCM does every day.

– How would you describe your job as Business Development Manager?

– Our job in Business Development at TCM is basically to talk to people, listen to what problem they have and then identify ways that TCM can help. The people we talk to are mainly technology developers and emitters, but in the future, it can be many other types of organizations. The problems they have are often the scale up of the technology (for technology developers), or the need to decarbonize their activities (for emitters). The ways TCM can help are simply by opening our facilities for testing or by sharing the knowledge we have developed through our 11 years of operations.

– What will you highlight as the most rewarding and interesting work you have taken part in at TCM?

– I would have to say that it is whenever we go for external activities, like conferences, and you meet all these people that already know TCM and what we can do, and they are excited to be able to talk to us. At that moment you are reminded of the importance of what we do at TCM. That is for me one of the more rewarding parts of our work.

– What would you say has been particularly demanding in the work with capturing CO₂?

– Carbon capture is a global effort. That means that the stakeholders are all around the world and as such we need to be available to meet people at any time. Thus, I would say that the hardest part is the very long working days, when you start very early in the morning to have meetings with Asia, work during the day and then having night meetings with the west coast in North America. And that happens more frequently than you would imagine.

– In general, looking back since the start in 2012, what do people that worked at TCM, or are still working there, have reason to be proud of?

– It is very easy to state the obvious, which is that TCM has helped mature technologies necessary to reduce our emissions, and that TCM personnel must be proud of that. However, it can be a bit reductive since people that were not directly involved on the campaigns may feel excluded. I believe that all people who has been part of TCM or collaborating with TCM in one way or another must be proud, from the technical and administrative personnel to TCM representatives involved with TCM, to our external partners across the world. They are all important to help TCM achieve its final goal, which is help society in their path to a decarbonized future.

– In regards to CCS, capturing CO₂ is considered the most technically complicated and demanding part of the process. In Norway, two capture facilities are now being built, one in Brevik and one at Klemetsrud in Oslo. Have you thought about how TCM can help these projects succeed?

­– These projects are now in a situation that I like to call “delivery mode”, meaning they don’t have the time to do anything else other than solving the issues that appear along the way, as soon as possible, to avoid impacting the planning and startup date. The best way that TCM can help these projects is to be ready to provide as much expertise as possible when these issues arise (and they will), helping them to deliver the project on the expected date. With all the years of experience at TCM, we most likely have the answers they will need.

– TCM has solved several challenges related to amine technology by MEA campaigns, for example amine aerosol emissions, continuous measurements of amine to air, etc. What other technical topics do you think are still lacking testing and good solutions, and how can TCM play an important role in this?

– From a technology point of view, today there is no blocking point preventing deployment of solvent-based technologies. The barriers are elsewhere, and one of them is the cost of the capture. This is where TCM testing can play a role, demonstrating options for cost reduction and the interactions between them, typically fine-tuning solvents compositions, absorber inter cooling, lean vapor compression, or intensification equipment like rotating packed beds. And of course, once the first wave of capture projects are started, like Brevik CCS, Klemetsrud and others, there will be learnings and new ideas for optimization that need to be demonstrated at TCM scale before they can be implemented in the real plant.

One last area where TCM can play an important role is on helping demonstrate other type of technologies for carbon capture different from the classical solvent-based technologies. Even though they are one of the most mature technologies, amines will not the best option for all sites that need to be decarbonized. What the emitters need is a whole range of technologies readily available so that they can chose the one that is the best fit for their constraints specific to their site, which might range from footprint limitations, to extremely constraint emission limits, lack of steam, or the dynamics of the system. This is why TCM’s Site for emerging technologies is such a success: with its personnel experienced in test planning, module installation, execution, operating and troubleshooting of test campaigns, we help the technology developers to maximize the value they get from the test, with much smaller downtime than they would get by testing elsewhere.

– What is your wish for TCM in the years to come?

– As I mentioned before, carbon capture technologies that work are available today. While the existing ones can be improved, and new technologies will certainly appear in the future, we need to deploy the ones we have today as soon as possible. I’m truly convinced that TCM can have a huge impact on accelerating this deployment. My wish for TCM in the years to come is to find a way to unlock all its potential for knowledge sharing and dissemination. In my opinion this would be a game changer for the industry.

In this series of reports, you can read about our experiences of building a carbon capture facility and the sorts of knowledge TCM built up over this period. These experiences are used when we advise on upcoming CCS projects. We have experienced and learned a lot about air emissions and the experience gained from the design is useful to this day.

CO₂ Technology Centre Mongstad – Design, Functionality and Emissions of the Amine Plant (2011)

The first article describes the amine plant, which was designed and constructed by the carbon capture technology provider Aker Clean Carbon (ACC) with specifications and further generic functions defined by TCM.

Many new technology elements will be tested and verified, including improved solvents. Monoethanolamine and a new ACC solvent will be tested in the first 16 months of operations. Tests will then be carried out by TCM’s partners. The quality and quantity of emissions from the absorbent to the air have been given top priority. At present, they represent a health and environmental uncertainty, primarily due to the lack of reliable and accessible experimental data. While knowledge and experience of these emissions is rapidly increasing, a discharge permit is still being applied for.

The amine plant is extremely flexible and can incorporate many new technologies. Thanks to its scale, it will provide valuable information on utility and space requirements, upscalability and contribute to reducing HSE risks and costs.

Article at ScienceDirect 

European CO₂ Test Centre Mongstad – Testing, Verification and Demonstration of Post- Combustion Technologies (2009)

The other article focuses on the following topics:

• Developing carbon capture technologies that are ready for broad national and international deployment
• Reducing costs and technical, environmental and financial risks related to large-scale carbon capture
• Testing, verifying and demonstration of carbon capture technology owned and marketed by suppliers
• Encouraging the development of a market for such technologies.

Article at ScienceDirect 

Both plants will be able to capture carbon from two different flue gases with 3.5 and 12.9 mol% CO₂.

Contact Muhammed Ismail Shah for further details.

This was the main message of TCM’s Managing Director, Muhammad Ismail Shah, in his presentation at the European CO₂ Capture, Storage & Reuse Conference in Copenhagen on the 17th of May.

More than 400 participants from all over the world were gathered for two days to focus on carbon capture, storage and utilisation of captured CO₂ and its use for production of building materials like cement, concrete, steel, but also production of advanced fuels that will contribute to further decarbonization of other sectors. The year 2022 can easily be considered the breakthrough year in terms of policies and regulations for green technologies. A discussion topic at the conference were the influence of legislation on carbon capture and utilization technologies.

More than an arena for testing

In his presentation, Shah gave the participants an introduction to what 11 years of activity at the world’s largest and most flexible test centre for demonstrating carbon capture technologies has given the world of knowledge, which is collected in more than 60 scientific publications. He maintained that testing at TCM has been absolutely crucial for the planning and realization of full-scale capturing facilities both in Norway, and across the world.

– Our plant offers great opportunities for testing and verifying mature as well as completely new and less mature capture technologies. The facilities would, however, have been nearly worthless without people with outstanding expertise in the field. The CCS industry is now entering a phase with a strong increasing need for precisely this expertise. That is why we now focus even more on our offers within Advisory Services, Shah said.

TCM’s service offer in detail

TCM’s service offer can be divided into several categories, such as Generic learnings, Plant design learnings, Operational learnings and Process Simulations. The image below provides detailed information on which services are included in each of these categories.

What happens with emissions?

– Emission monitoring and permitting is a topic that requires particular vigilance and expertise, Shah pointed out. – What happens with emissions is the part of the capture process where the unexpected can occur in particular and will require detection. Defining the industry’s needs, and contributing to actual solutions, is perhaps TCM’s foremost “parade branch”.

As a closing remark Shah emphasized that cost of CO₂ capture should be reduced in parallel to deployment of first generation capture facilities. – TCM is, and will remain, an important arena for de-risking and expediting upscaling carbon capture technology, he said.

This says Matthew Campbell from Canada, whom has been working for TCM for four years and now helds the position as our Technology Manager.

– What was the background for your interest in CO₂ capture? 

 – When I was in university studying chemical engineering, it was always important for me to find a way to help the environment and give back to society. Fortunately, my first job out of university was in the field of sulphur dioxide and carbon dioxide removal and these propelled me into the CO₂ capture industry at a fairly young age. It’s quite nice to see now that the CCUS industry is picking up momentum and I am hopeful that many full-scale projects are realized.

 – How was your first meeting with TCM?  

– My first meeting with TCM was many years ago, around 2014. At this point I was representing a company which was trying to test and develop a commercial CO₂ capture technology. My first impression of TCM was excellent, during this meeting I was very clear of the needs for testing and the TCM experts from different parts of the organization provided very relevant feedback, that made me feel confident that testing would be a success.

  – How would you describe your job as Technology Manager?  

– Now I would say the Technology Manager role is a quite a broad role covering wide areas of importance for TCM. Firstly, to ensure that test campaigns have proper time for planning, preperation and excectuion phase to ensure each test is a success. Secondly, to support knowledge transfer of all our learnings from 11 years of operation, this is done through publications, conferences and our recently developed Advisory Services group. 

 – What will you highlight as the most rewarding and interesting work you have taken part in at TCM? 

– It is hard for me to differentiate the most rewarding work I have participated at TCM as there are so many fruitful activities. I would say I find it very exciting to have the opportunity to facilitate open-source testing campaigns that allow for publications and knowledge sharing, which will help the greater CCUS industry. Of course it is also quite rewarding to support proprietary technology vendors test and surpass some final hurdles needed before technology commercialization. 

– What would you say has been particulary demanding in the work with capturing CO₂? 

 – In general for amine based post combustion CO₂ capture, all technologies and future commercial scale projects can have challenges related to amine emissions, amine degradation, CO₂ capture efficiency and energy demand requirements. Over the years at TCM strong focus has been put on these area and to ensure best possible de-risking can be put in place to allow large scale commercial projects to be successful.

 – In general, looking back since the start in 2012, what do people that worked at TCM, or are still working there, have reason to be proud of? 

 – I think TCM has taken the industrial lead in demonstrating CO₂ capture technologies at scale (~12 MW). TCM has taken initiative to take the lead in solving major technology challenges that are applicable to the whole industry. Some examples are:

1. Work performed in establishing an emission permit process
2. Efforts to find a solution for capturing CO₂ from RFCC flue gas with high concentrations of aerosols
3. Performing testing that mimics dispatchable operation for CCGT (combined-cycle gas turbine) power plants with a CO₂ capture plant.

– In regards to CCS, capturing CO₂ is considered the most technically complicated and demanding part of the process. In Norway, two capture facilities are now being built, one in Brevik and one at Klemetsrud in Oslo. Have you thought about how TCM can help these projects succeed? 

 – TCM does have dialogue with both projects to support as needed along the respective project development timelines. I think a lot of the learnings from the 11 years of operation have already been taken into consideration by these projects. Also, our experience related to emission monitoring and permitting will be extremely valuable for both projects moving forward. Lastly, I believe as these plants begin to approach start-up some evaluation and tests at TCM can be deemed quite valuable for troubleshooting unexpected issues at these plants.

 – TCM have solved several challenges related to amine technology by MEA campaigns, for example amine aerosol emissions, continuous measurements of amine to air, etc. What other technical topics do you think are still lacking testing and good solutions, and how can TCM play an important role in this? 

 – I believe there will always be advancements to CO₂ capture technologies, either to resolve new issues or further develop more optimized solutions for existing issues. A good example is that many projects will be looking for advanced instruments and analyzers, which can be used to improve the efficiency for the capture plant operation. I think TCM would be the best place to evaluate these instruments before considering full scale deployment. Additional work can also be planned to help optimize a newer open-source solvent called CESAR1. Currently, the plan is to test a modified composition of CESAR1 in the amine plant in 2025 to see if the technology can be improved further as compared to MEA. I would also think that more dispatchable and transient capture plant testing would provide very valuable insights for the industry.

 – What is your wish for TCM in the years to come? 

 – My wish would be for a sustainable future for TCM, where we first continue to support the first phase of commercial projects for amine-based CO₂ capture, while in parallel putting more and more resources for developing our site for emerging technologies. This can allow us to quickly test new technologies and assess if any can be potential gamechangers to reduce the cost of CO₂ capture. I believe moving forward we will need a distribution of capture technologies that can help meet the worldwide demand for CCUS projects. 

The former entails the use of a new class of crystallised and porous materials to capture CO₂, while latter is testing technology that capturing CO₂ from post-combustion industrial sources while leaving a minimal environmental footprint.

“It may be hard work, but it is really exciting working on these two projects side by side,” says Ahmad Wakaa, while his colleague Roger Solheim adds “This is innovation at the highest level”. Wakaa is responsible for the coordination of test activities and subsequently reporting back to clients, while Solheim oversees operations at TCM’s third site.

A project financed by Horizon 2020

Solheim gives us a tour of the TCM’s new site for emerging technologies to show us what is currently going on. The MOF4AIR test unit is a substantial container emblazoned with the EU flag and an inscription declaring that the project is financed with funds from the Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme.

MOF4AIR stands for “Metal Organic Frameworks for carbon dioxide Adsorption processes in power production and energy Intensive industRies”. MOFs are hybrid porous solids that represent a new class of crystallised porous materials. MOF materials take advantage of their high tuneability to create specific adsorption sites that are associated for capturing CO₂. Adsorption is a process that occurs when a gas or liquid binds to the surface of a solid or liquid (the adsorbent) and forms a molecular or atomic film (the adsorbate).

The MOF4AIR project is being led by the University of Mons in Belgium and gather fourteen partners from across eight countries. The Norwegian contingent in the project team is made up of both TCM and SINTEF Industry. All partners worked together to develop the CO₂ capture process with MOFs from material synthesis at lab scale to the industrial pilot scale. TCM is one of the three demonstration sites where the performance of MOF-based carbon adsorption will be demonstrated for the first time in real operation with CO₂-containing flue gas from Equinor’s refinery at Mongstad through a six-month test campaign. The objective of the campaign is to capture 90 per cent CO₂ and achieve more than 90 per cent purity with relatively low energy consumption. “The results from Lab scale test were promising and we are really looking forward to see the performance of MOFs at this industrial scale with live flue gas” says CO₂ Capture Technologist Ahmad Wakaa, who is leading the MOF4AIR project at TCM.

Integrating RPB into the capture process

Next, Solheim takes us to see the unit put in place for ACCSESS, the programme that forms a part of the EU’s commitment to achieve climate neutrality by 2050. SINTEF Energy is the coordinator of ACCSESS project. The technology used in ACCSESS project is CO₂ solutions technology by Saipem combined with a novel and compact rotary packed bed (RPB) absorber developed by Prospin. CO₂ solutions technology is a non-amine, non-toxic enzyme enhanced solvent for capturing CO₂. The ACCSESS campaign at TCM will first consist of a month of testing CO₂ capture from one of the flue gases at TCM with Saipem’s CO₂ solutions with the pilot conventional configuration (i.e absorber and stripper columns). A second phase of two months testing where the conventional absorber column will be replaced by the rotary packed bed (RPB).

Solheim then opens the door to what he describes as “the holiest sanctuary” where there is a closed container housing the rotating packed bed (RPB). “The purpose of the test at our New Site for Emerging Technologies is to integrate the RPB absorber into the existing capture process. If this is successful, we will have taken an important step forward in seeking to reduce the environmental disadvantages of capturing CO₂,” says Solheim.

Once testing campaign at Mongstad is completed, the plan is to transfer the unit to pulp and Paper Mills in Sweden and then to Heidelberg Materials’ cement factory in Poland for further testing as a part of the ACCSESS project..

“Test at TCM will mark the first use of the RPB in the ACCSESS system. Successful testing will be a big milestone for the ACCSESS project, and an important step forward to reduce CO₂ emission,” says CO₂ Capture Technologist Ahmad Wakaa, who is leading the ACCSESS project at TCM.

Aiming for TRL’s at 6 and 7

TCM’s New Site for Emerging Technologies is a hub for testing new technologies which are less mature than conventional amine-based carbon capture. In the case of both MOF4AIR and ACCSESS, development has progressed to such an extent following testing at Mongstad that a Technology Readiness Level of 6 and 7 (European scale) will be reached for each project respectively.

“We are doing our best to ensure that they succeed,” promise Ahmad Wakaa and Roger Solheim.

A number of American companies have tested technologies at TCM, and the meetings we had in the Department of Energy (DoE) and at the National Carbon Capture Center (NCCC) confirmed to us that they are very interested in developing this collaboration.

TCM’s Managing Director, Muhammad Ismail Shah, and Chairman, Svein Ingar Semb, went on a one-week trip “across the pond” in March to discuss possible projects for further collaboration with representatives of the US authorities and central CCS actors.

“The timing of our visit was good, because the Biden administration, through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), is providing for large-scale investment in carbon capture and storage in order to reach its climate goals. Back in 2009, Norway and the USA signed an MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) on cooperation in the energy field, in which CCS projects are highlighted as an important area of work. We have been largely successful in this ­– among other things, TCM has facilitated test campaigns for commercial suppliers and for technology development under the auspices of research-based institutions. So we have a good basis for developing cooperation within TCM’s core business.”

Good meetings in the Department of Energy

At the DoE meetings, Shah and Semb met with the leadership team in the Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM) and the Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED). FECM has been contributing funding for several years to the development of capture technologies at TRL (Technology Readiness Level) 6, several of which have been tested at TCM to scale up to TRL 7.

“Their feedback is that this collaboration has worked well, and that the testing at our facilities and the expertise we offer provide value for money. They want to work more closely with us, not least to strengthen knowledge about emissions where amine-based technologies are used. We will be notified when they have completed the process of planning their upcoming testing activities, and we were also invited to present the findings from our open test campaigns at a conference in August,” Shah says.

The task of OCED is to demonstrate full-scale capture and storage of CO₂ at six different demo plants with technologies at TRL 7 and higher. “OCED is a new office which was established last autumn. TCM has not been in discussions with representatives from this office before, and it was useful to establish a relationship and talk about what we can offer by way of opportunities and services, which can help them succeed with their demo projects.”

At the NCCC in Alabama

From the ministry offices in Washington, Shah and Semb went on to the small town of Wilsonville in Alabama, which is the location of the National Carbon Capture Center. This testing centre is financed by the US government through the DoE and industrial players, including TotalEnergies, the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and others. The NCCC has approx. 100 employees and the level of activity is high.

“For the authorities, the NCCC is a central instrument for driving forward the development of new capture technologies. But the facility is smaller than TCM and technologies being tested have a lower maturity level (TRL 6). In other words, TCM allows the Americans to test and verify technologies in physical environments that are a notch closer to full-scale capture. But for both parties, closer cooperation and exchange of knowledge can provide significant benefits in accelerating the scale-up of carbon capture technologies.”

Great interest in the Longship project

Svein Ingar Semb says that they talked about developments in the Longship project both during the meetings in Washington and at the NCCC.

“The fact that little Norway is now realising a fully-fledged value chain for capture and storage of CO₂ is viewed with great interest and is gaining recognition. When the Americans eventually make plans for projects on the same scale, learning from Longship will probably be used. This would include regulatory matters relating to the transport of CO₂ across national borders, where similar issues could arise for transport between states. In sum, we have a lot to learn from each other and to collaborate on, both in the development of cost-effective capture technologies and in the realisation of CCS projects that the world needs.”

Those were the words of TCM Managing Director Muhammad Ismail Shah during a meeting with Storting member Linda Monsen Merkesdal and deputy representative Benjamin Jakobsen held at TCM on Monday 20 March. The two Labour parliamentarians had made the trip to TCM together with a delegation of local representatives from the municipalities of Alver and Austrheim, led by Austrheim mayor Per Lerøy (Labour). Einar Vaage, a project manager with Greenspot Mongstad, took the initiative to set the meeting up.

During the encounter, Shah explained the importance testing at TCM has had for the realisation of the two plants now under construction in Norway that will allow full-scale carbon capture (at Heidelberg Materials’s cement factory in Brevik and the Hafslund Oslo Celsio waste incineration plant, respectively). Internationally, technology testing at TCM has also proven to be decisive for which suppliers are awarded contracts for large CCS projects.

Norwegian politicians stuck to their guns

“The Norwegian government was responsible for financing the construction of the world’s largest and most flexible centre for testing capture technologies. It is safe to say that TCM has proven to be a gift to the world,” Shah said.

“This gift would never have come to fruition for us at TCM or the Norwegian nation as a whole had it not been for far-sighted politicians who identified that carbon capture and storage is a key part of efforts to meet global climate goals. Our politicians, regardless of who has been in government, have also stuck to their priorities – even in the years when CCS has been sailing against the prevailing current.”

Shah emphasised that Norwegian industry and Norway as a whole are now profiting from this pioneering approach, not least through the realisation of the projects that constitute Longship.

Improved efficiency

“Despite reductions in our budgets, we have managed to increase levels of activity, both as a result of those coming to test technologies paying a larger portion of the costs that entails, and because we are working more efficiently than in the early days. This year, a total of five test campaigns will be carried out at the facility, compared to just a couple a year as was previously the case.” Shah added “This is a new all-time high for us.”

TCM has been operational since 2012 and is underwritten by guarantees from the state and its industry-based owners to ensure operation over the first five years and then for two subsequent three-year periods. The current operating period will expire at the turn of the year. Negotiations are now underway between the state and TCM’s other owners (Equinor, Shell and TotalEnergies) about what the future will bring.

A key to continued progress

“The message from me and my colleagues at TCM is clear,” said Muhammad Ismail Shah. “There will be a need both for further testing and improvement of the mature technologies based on amine, which, for example, will be used in the Longship projects, and for the development of completely new and more cost-effective technologies. CCS has come a long way, but the best is yet to come! TCM has the facilities needed to drive technology development forward, and we have the expertise to provide training to personnel who will operate full-scale facilities and to help solve technical problems that crop up. In other words: TCM is the key to the continued progression of CCS.”

Very soon Kleppe will be moving on to new and exciting challenges in a new role with Equinor at Sandsli in Bergen.

 “How did you first get interested in CO₂ capture?”

 “It was a bit random. I had a really great job with a company in Stavanger that supplies laboratory services to a range of customers in oil and gas, as well as in other industries. This was where I first got to grips with sampling and analyses, including in connection with test drilling and refining. However, my family were keen to return to the Bergen area, and I spotted the TCM laboratory vacancy and figured it was an interesting opportunity. Working on CO₂ capture broke new ground for me in my career and represented an exciting opportunity. I don’t regret making that move one bit.”

“Tell us about your first encounter with TCM?”

 “Back in my student days, I had a part-time job working on the quayside at the refinery next door, and from there I was able to track construction of TCM on the adjacent site. But what first struck me when I started working at TCM was not only that the facility is huge, but that it’s also extremely important in winning the fight against climate change. I also noticed that my colleagues were very down-to-earth and felt a great sense of responsibility in relation to the task we are assigned with. There’s a really good atmosphere here.”

Facts

Name: Eirik Romslo Kleppe

Age: 41

Education: Bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering (Bergen University College) and Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry (University of Bergen)

Marital status: Married with three children

Affiliation to TCM: Senior Laboratory Engineer, May 2014 – April 2023, hired.

“How would you describe your role as Senior Laboratory Engineer?”

“My task has mainly been to take samples in connection with test campaigns and analyse them in the lab – my primary focus has been on emissions. A lot of people think of me as the guy who flies up and down the absorber a lot, but it’s actually my lab work that has required the most time and effort. In the early days, there was no framework for this type of work, so we had to develop hood methods ourselves and document these in the best possible way. Based on the experiences we gained over time, we have established and developed a high-quality system that maintains a very high standard – I would say it’s world class!”

“What’s the most rewarding and interesting work you have done at TCM?”

“Developing methods and continuously making improvements in them is never a one man show. What is particularly exciting and rewarding at TCM is the way people hailing from different professional backgrounds – engineers, academics and skilled workers – come together to discuss and solve various challenges through both a proactive approach and an understanding of what happens in the capture facility during our various tests. This teamwork is absolutely essential to be able to provide technology suppliers with accurate data, as well as for the spread of knowledge from open test campaigns that appear in TCM’s many publications.”

“What would you say has been particularly demanding about your sampling and analysis work?”

“Funny you should ask! You won’t be surprised to hear that the weather gods aren’t particularly accommodating at Mongstad, so sampling work can be very physically demanding. Besides that, situations arise from time to time where customers don’t get the results they wanted or envisioned. When that happens, we have to provide good explanations as to why, which can sometimes entail further tests to underpin our professional approach. You have to be able to tolerate disagreement and discussion, while maintaining an open and professional approach to whatever it is that is difficult or problematic. All that being said, things usually go well!”

“Looking back to TCM’s beginnings in 2012, what do people who used to work at TCM or still do have reason to be proud of?”

“The short and simple answer is that for technology suppliers worldwide it has become a necessary mark of quality to have tested at TCM before introducing their technology to the CCS market. Everyone has confidence in the reliability of our test results.”

“Capturing CO₂ is considered to be the most technically complicated and demanding part of the CCS process. In Norway, two capture facilities are now being built: one at Brevik and one at Klemetsrud in Oslo. Have you thought about how TCM can help these projects succeed?”

“Longship is incredibly exciting, and it says a lot about the technology suppliers for the two CCS projects, Aker Carbon Capture and Shell Cansolv respectively, that both have run test campaigns at TCM. The extensive expertise on hand at TCM will be useful when the facilities are commissioned, among other things with regard to measuring and making visible the energy costs that come with CO₂ capture on a full scale.”

“TCM have solved several challenges related to amine technology by MEA campaigns, for example amine aerosol emissions, continuous measurements of amine to air, etc. What other technical topics do you think are still lacking testing and good solutions, and how can TCM play an important role in this?”

“There is still much to address, including what happens when flue gas enters a capture facility. The challenge is to ensure that the solvent remains in as good a state as possible for as long as possible. It isn’t only of great importance in terms of the costs associated with CO₂ capture but also environmentally. TCM’s expertise undoubtedly has an important role to play.”

“What’s your wish for TCM in the years to come?”

“Over the nine years I have spent at TCM, the team has shown an impressive ability and willingness to develop and change. This has been necessary, both because customers’ demands and expectations have increased, and because the financial framework conditions for the operation have become tighter. My wish and hope is that TCM will continue to have a place in the CCS industry and remain relevant to stakeholders both nationally and internationally. The industry’s task is to help ensure that the green transition is as affordable as possible. For TCM, this means being the driving force in the work to reduce costs when capturing CO₂.”

Removr, a Norwegian company that develops solutions for removing CO₂ directly from the atmosphere, has received NOK 36.3 million in governmental backing for an industrial-scale pilot.

Norway’s first grant to DAC

The backing was provided in the form of an innovation grant from the Norwegian governmental body Enova, and is Norway’s first grant to DAC. Enova is owned by the Norwegian Ministry of Climate and Environment and supports the development of energy and climate technology.

“Even with maximum efforts to reduce emissions, we have already filled the atmosphere with such large amounts of greenhouse gases that the greenhouse effect will continue to warm the globe even if emissions go to net zero. It may be necessary to ensure that carbon is removed from the air. We need actors who go ahead and test solutions. I admire Removr for their initiative which can play an important role in the development of technology for carbon removal,” says Norwegian Minister of Climate and Environment, Espen Barth Eide (Ap), in a statement to Enova.

Removr’s first industrial pilot at TCM

Removr and it`s technology partner GreenCap Solutions have demonstrated proof of concept through four successful pilots to date. The company follows a stepwise-plan to industrialise DAC and establish market leadership based on its energy-efficient and scalable technology. Removr’s first industrial pilot at TCM will capture 300 tons of CO₂ annually from 2024, it will be followed by the company’s first commercial pilot with a capacity of 2,000 tons per year in 2025 and its first large-scale facility with a capacity of 30,000 tons per year in 2027.

The company now works with a number of partners, including SINTEF, Metier, DNV, Citec and Carbfix on its next facilities while developing a concept for what will be the world’s first million-ton DAC facility based on solid sorbent in 2029.

Removr’s DAC technology involves removing CO₂ directly from the atmosphere. Removr does this by blowing large amounts of air through a zeolite molecular sieve. When the zeolite is saturated with CO₂, it is heated, and the CO₂ gas is released so it can be extracted as a separate CO₂ stream. The technology has been used for decades in the space industry.

“The support from the Norwegian government through Enova sends a clear signal about the importance of our solution as a pioneering project. We are in a hurry and need to scale the right technologies quickly to reach the 1.5 degree target. Norway has extensive experience in carbon capture and can take a leading position in direct air capture of CO₂. Together with TCM, we believe we have an excellent starting point to remove CO₂ from the atmosphere”, says Einar Tyssen, CEO of Removr. 

The uniqueness of Removr’s technology lies in it being water-free, energy-efficient and able to capture CO2 from low concentrations levels, down to atmospheric concentrations. The process runs entirely on renewable electricity and is flexible when it comes to siting.

“We believe Removr will be able to become a central and preferred technology partner for streams with low CO₂ concentrations, both for capture from ambient air and process gas, for example from aluminum works. Enova supports those who go ahead and Removr’s project is very promising in this context”, says marketing director Astrid Lilliestråle at Enova.

First test campaign with DAC at TCM

“We think it is encouraging that Enova has chosen to support Removr to make such a test campaign possible on TCM. Demonstration of technologies and helping to mature them to a level where they can be launched in the market is the purpose of TCM and we can offer unique carbon capture expertise that is globally recognized. This will be our first test campaign with DAC and we look forward to being able to collaborate with yet another technology supplier seeking climate solutions with ground-breaking technology,” says Muhammad Ismail Shah, CEO at TCM.