– TCM has laid the foundation for the largest investment in Norway in recent times, said CEO Muhammad Ismail Shah.

During the lunch, the jubilee received greetings and kind words from Secretary General Andreas Eriksen in the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy, who through Gassnova is the majority owner of TCM, and from the mayor of Alver, Sara Sekkingstad. The Chairman of the Company Meeting (Board) of TCM, Svein Ingar Semb from Gassnova, also expressed great appreciation for everything TCM has conducted and achieved since the opening of the facility in 2012. So did representatives from the industrial owners, Equinor, Shell, TotalEnergies, the managing director for the Northern Lights, Børre Jacobsen, and Baste Tveito, who is the general manager of Nordhordland Næringslag.

At the end of the lunch event, CEO Muhammad Ismail Shah gave a speech to the guests.

Have a lot to thank Norway for

I was hired as CEO of TCM three months ago. I am 41 years old, married, have four children and live in Alversund – a half hour drive from Mongstad. We moved here in 2016 – at the same time as I started at TCM. Both my family and I thrive living here. For the last two years before I got the job as the company’s CEO, I was working as technology manager at TCM. The working days are often long and challenging, but they are very rewarding and meaningful.

The reason I came to TCM was that in 2011 I was recruited in Gassnova as a technology advisor. Then I had worked for three years in a company in Eastern Norway with projects converting biomass to transportation fuel. The basic for that recruitment was a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of Engineering & Technology Peshawar in my native Pakistan, and then a master’s degree in oil and gas engineering from the University of Aalborg, Denmark.

My great wish is that I, together with my skilled colleagues, our good owners, customers, and partners, will continue to work with the development of technology which I am convinced will make a significant difference in the fight to achieve the climate goals.

The climate threat is dramatic

That the climate threat is dramatic was reported last week from India in the media worldwide. The world’s soon most populous country is now hit by a heat wave with temperatures soaring to 50 degrees Celsius. The heat has led to reduced wheat yields and concerns about how the country will be able to meet its own needs, and at the same time fulfil its ambition to export more.

That the temperature is constantly rising and has noticeable consequences, I have also been able to ascertain on holiday trips for the family back home in Pakistan. There is a real urgency to come up with measures that can save the livelihoods of people around the globe.

The climate threat is also very real in our part of the world, and awareness of our responsibility to contribute to solutions is strong. Ahead of the TCM anniversary, we have on our website interviewed Oscar Graff, who for a lifetime has been at the forefront of Aker’s investment in technology for carbon capture. He says:

«For me, it is basically about being able to go to the grave in the knowledge that there is both hope and possible to save our common planet. The UN’s latest climate report is frightening reading. The climate challenges are gigantic, and both the UN and the IEA leave no doubt that carbon capture and storage, together with the transition to renewable energy, is an absolutely necessary part of the solution. My descendants should know that my generation has also understood the seriousness and done the best we could to develop technology that makes it possible to avoid the world’s biggest environmental disaster.»

Aker has a lot to thank TCM for

Aker has done that, and Oscar Graff says they have a lot to thank TCM for. Aker built our amine plant and was the first to test its technology at the plant in 2013 – 2014. That one of the streets out at the plant is called Akersgaten, thus became a matter of course. But when Aker, in collaboration with TCM, launched their campaign, there was great uncertainty as to whether their technology actually worked as assumed after attesting at lab scale with the company’s mobile test unit. However, this was tested and verified here at the plant – under real industrial conditions. The fact that Aker, in competition with several other companies, has been chosen as a technology supplier for CO₂ capture at Heidelberg Materials’s cement factory, is thus not only a feather in the hat for Aker – but also for TCM. In 2024, the capture part of the Longship adventure is ready to start.

Longship also includes the carbon capture plant at Klemetsrud in Oslo. Now when Oslo Municipality ensured the financing of the project, capture of CO₂ associated with Norway’s largest waste incineration plant could start in 2026. In this project, technology from Shell Cansolv will be used. Shell Cansolv tested in two rounds at TCM in the period 2014 – 2016.

Has laid the foundation for major industrial investment in Norway

In other words, testing and verification of technology at TCM has laid the foundation for the largest industrial investment in Norway in recent times. This we are proud of!

We are also very pleased that our industrial owners, Equinor, Shell and TotalEnergies, have joined forces on the transport and storage part of the Longship project, Northern Lights. In this way, TCM has been a catalyst for collaboration on the development of a Norwegian CCS industry between large and reputable companies, all of whom are investing significantly in playing a role in the green shift globally.

We are also very proud of the work we have done to facilitate the testing of emerging technologies for carbon capture, technologies that can be used to capture CO₂ from different industrial plants and sizes. Recently, two research-based companies from the US, MTR and TDA Research, completed their tests on our Site for emerging technologies with technology based on membranes – both founded by the US government. Several others are knocking on our door for testing.

In summary, testing and verification of technology at TCM has proved instrumental in bringing forward technologies for industrial applications to cut CO₂ emissions. In addition to the projects included in Longship, several other technologies have been developed through TCM, and are being delivered to industry elsewhere in the world.

Much has been done – and much remains to be done

Then one can ask: Has TCM done its job? Has the development of technologies for CO₂ capture after ten years of operation come so far that we can just as well pack together – hoping that those who will supply technology to the industry and the companies that will make use of it, can now manage completely on their own?

My answer is no. TCM has managed to mature and reduce risks in first and second generations technologies, which are ready to be used today, but we are not done. The cost of CO₂ capture must go down! This is done by continuous innovation, development, testing and verification. Therefore, there is still need for TCM, to reduce costs for technology, and for technology for different industries come into place.

The current operation period for TCM expires at the end of 2023 – and we believe it must be followed up with a new agreement among the partners. We are convinced that those who are now in the process of realizing full-scale CO₂ capture based on amine technology, both in Norway, in the UK and a number of other places in the world, and the many who plan such projects, will still need to test and verify their technologies. They will also need assistance in training personnel to operate the facilities, and in troubleshooting. Where else in the world should they find test facilities and competence they need other than at TCM?

TCM needs greater predictability

I mentioned new capture technologies, and the demand we are experiencing in the market for testing and verification is constantly increasing. When technology suppliers in the US take the significant extra costs involved in moving personnel and equipment to Mongstad, it is because we guarantee a quality of the campaigns thy do not get elsewhere. It is the test results that count, before commercialization of the technology you have developed.

But then it is also the case that it normally will take one – two years from the time an agreement is entered into until the campaign can be implemented. This is because both we and the technology suppliers need the time to ensure good quality as desired and expected.

Then it can be argued that there are limits to how long and how much our owners, and then primarily the Norwegian state, will subsidize the operation of the fantastic test facilities having been built up at TCM. Of course I understand that. However, then you should remember that while in the first years after the start-up in 2012 we received about 400 million kroner annually from the state budget, this amount in the current year is just under 170 million kroner. In other words, we have both managed to increase the external financing for operations significantly and to increase the level of activity year by year by giving customers more opportunities and offers – at the same time as the staff has been reduced. The experience we have gained means that we work far more efficiently and at a significantly lower cost.

What we are asking for is thus not primarily more money, but greater predictability. An operation period of three years in a row is too short to be able to enter into binding agreements with companies that want to use our services – we need a guarantee for the operation of TCM for at least five-six years ahead. It will also contribute to more stability in the organization of about 60 employees, which has been and still is a challenge.

Should become an arena for green technology qualification

Norway has, thanks in large part to TCM, taken the lead when it comes to making CCS an industry. Theory has been translated into reality. Our test facilities are still the best in the world. The predictions that after a few years the TCM would become a ghost facility have been put to shame. It shows the list of a total of 17 test campaigns that have been conducted here since 2012.

But if we look ahead, what we have jointly created also has a significant potential as an «engine» for other parts of the green shift. My opinion is that TCM can also be an arena for technology qualification for blue hydrogen, hydrogen turbines, chemicals from CO₂ and hydrogen, biofuels and new low-carbon technologies. Why build completely new institutions and facilities for testing new technologies, when we have already invested billions in this facility and built a competence and brand that is recognized worldwide? We have the physical space at our disposal – and we have very valuable human resources for work at the interface between research and industry as a basis for developing solutions the world needs. Technology Centre Mongstad is catching our future!

The United Nations prayer

I started by saying a few words about myself, and the opportunity I have been given as the leader of this fascinating and wonderful business. Now it’s about taking TCM into a new era, a task that, among other things, requires a good understanding of technology, the ability to collaborate and a lot of youthful courage. The team I lead is extremely good – and we are optimistic about our opportunities in the future.

Planet Earth is just a star in space.

It is our duty to turn into a planet where all living things no longer have suffer from war, hunger and fear, and are no longer completely unreasonably divided by race, color and ideology.

Give us the courage and strength to begin this task today, so that our children and children’s children one day bear the name: Man – with pride!

Thank you for your attention!