OUR STORY
The ION story began in 2008 when ION’s founders saw the urgent need to improve the technology available for the removal of carbon dioxide being emitted from industrial sources like power plants and refineries. A lot has happened since those early days. Carbon capture has garnered worldwide attention from governments, NGOs, and industry.
ION, with the help of a succession of grants from the Department of Energy and other organizations, has been progressively developing and successfully demonstrating its carbon capture liquid absorption system at various scales, including a recent testing campaign at the largest capture facility in the world, Technology Centre Mongstad, (TCM) in Norway. ION is now ideally positioned to lead the capture industry into widespread commercialization.
WHAT IS CARBON CAPTURE TECHNOLOGY?
Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas that is emitted into the atmosphere when we burn fossil fuels like coal and natural gas. Right now, there is more carbon dioxide (CO2) in the Earth’s atmosphere than there has been in human history. We know that CO2 and other greenhouse gases (GHGs) have a direct impact on climate change—and we also know that the reduction of GHGs is essential if we want to curb the negative impacts of climate change.
Carbon capture and storage, more commonly known as CCS, is a suite of technologies that captures over 90% of the carbon dioxide from fossil fuel-based power plants and industrial sources before they ever reach the atmosphere, thereby mitigating the devastating effects of global warming. CCS technologies have been recognized by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) – the leading international scientific body for the assessment of climate change – as essential components in climate mitigation technologies necessary to avoid the effects of climate change.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) has stated that CCS is the “only technology able to deliver significant emissions reductions from the use of fossil fuels.” Given the world’s current reliance on fossil fuels (81% in 2014), the ability of CCS to achieve deep reductions in greenhouse gas emissions—especially carbon dioxide (CO2)—from power generation and other industrial sources makes it among the most essential strategies available in the fight against climate change. ION Engineering is leading the way toward a zero-carbon future.
HOW DOES CARBON CAPTURE WORK?
There are currently three principal technologies used to capture CO2: pre-combustion, post-combustion, and Oxyfuel combustion.
- Pre-combustion – The removal of CO2 before burning the fuel source (Coal/Gas).
- Post-combustion – Removal of CO2 from the flue gas after the fuel source is burned.
- Oxyfuel combustion – This process burns the fuel source with nearly pure oxygen instead of air.
The post-combustion removal of CO2 is the preferred method because it is the most cost-effective option for retrofitting existing power plants. There are currently three viable options for post-combustion carbon capture:
- Solvent Absorption: – This is the most common type of post-combustion capture technology. The solvent absorbs CO2 upon contact in an absorber column and is then separated using heat to recycle the solvent and to safely capture the carbon dioxide. ION has developed a highly efficient, cost-effective novel solvent technology that has been successfully demonstrated in large-scale applications.
- Solid-sorbents: – In a similar way to solvent-based capture, most sorbents work via adsorption but, use solids instead of liquids.
- Membranes: – Involves a type of stationary filter system that captures CO2 through large membrane filters.
What do We do with the Carbon After We Capture it?
Reusing captured CO2 makes carbon capture not only environmentally friendly, but also economically beneficial. There are almost unlimited uses for the CO2 that we capture from power plants and industrial facilities, but here are some of the most innovative that are actually being implemented today:
- The craft brewing industry uses the CO2 from the fermentation process, capture it, and reuse it when canning or bottling
- Captured CO2 can be used to grow micro-algae for processing to biofuel, fertilizer, and fish food, among others
- Car manufacturers are using captured CO2 to make a new foam for use in car seats and interiors
- CO2 can be captured and converted to carbon-monoxide and used as a reagent for fuels like ethanol or diesel
- Coffee roasters use CO2 to decaffeinate their coffees
- Greenhouses can use CO2 to enhance plant growth
- Captured CO2 can be converted to baking soda
OUR TECHNOLOGY
ION Clean Energy is the industry leader in post-combustion carbon capture technologies. What sets ION apart is our suite of state-of-the-art technologies that not only capture over 90% of CO2 emissions, they also significantly reduce the operating and capital costs for virtually any source of CO2 emissions—from industrial power plants, to research laboratories, and other commercial or industrial facilities, including fossil and bio fuel, cement, aluminum, steel, and refineries.
ION’s Technology Suite combines the most advanced liquid absorption system in the world with a patented state-of-the-art 3D-printed packing system and near real-time systems monitoring and analysis, all of which, when combined, save millions of dollars in both capital and operating costs for facilities seeking to reduce their CO2 emissions.
ION Advanced Liquid Absorption System—(ALAS)
ION’s Advanced Liquid Absorption System (ALAS) has been demonstrated in both small and large-scale commercial testing facilities and has consistently outperformed the industry standard MEA solvent in post-combustion capture efficiency. Based upon an independent techno-economic-analysis (TEA) performed by Sargent & Lundy, during which ION’s ALAS was compared to MEA (the current industry standard solvent), ION’s system demonstrated a 38% reduction in incremental capital costs and a 28% reduction in the incremental annual operating and maintenance costs, resulting in a total cost of CO2 capture between $39 – $45/tonne. ION’s ALAS does not require a unique process to function at full capacity. It uses capture processes that have existed for decades, which makes it easily scalable for larger commercial projects.
ION Modular Adaptive Packing (MAP)
ION’s patent-pending Modular Adaptive Packing™ (MAP) technology is a revolutionary new approach to one of the most expensive aspects of CO2 capture: gas/liquid contacting devices. ION has leveraged the power of 3D printing to create optimal gas/liquid contacting devices that have been successfully benchmark tested against the best commercially available optimized packing designs. 3D printing gives ION’s engineers the ability to completely reimagine the structure and design of G/L contacting devices to optimize cooling, mass transfer, liquid hold-up, and pressure drop. The use of ION’s MAP in the capture process results in significant cost reductions in both capital and operational expenditures.
ION Multi-Liquid-Analyzer (MLA)
ION’s patent-pending, groundbreaking Multicomponent-Liquid Analyzer™ (MLA) is a device that is capable of evaluating, in near real time, concentrations of multiple components in a liquid composition. The practical application of the MLA in a capture facility allows ION to monitor and evaluate the composition of the solvent used in the capture process without system down time.
Production
Fuel for the power plant is burned in the boiler. Steam from the fuel drives the turbines that power the facility. CO2 is emitted during the production process and released into the environment if there is no carbon capture process in place.
Absorption
Flue gas rich with CO2 is directed into an absorption tower. ION’s Advanced Liquid Absorbent contacts the CO2-heavy flue gas and absorbs the CO2. Flue gas, now free of CO2, is returned to the stack and safely and cleanly released into the atmosphere.
Regeneration
The ION absorbent, now loaded with CO2 (“rich solvent”) is directed to the regeneration section of the process. The Liquid Absorbent is then heated, which strips our the CO2. The captured CO2 is then sent to be compressed and transported for utilization in a variety of industries or for permanent sequestration.
THE USE OF CAPTURED CO2
Reusing captured CO2 makes carbon capture not only environmentally friendly, but also economically beneficial. There are almost unlimited uses for the CO2 that we capture from power plants and industrial facilities, but here are some of the most innovative that are actually being implemented today:
- The craft brewing industry uses the CO2 produced during the fermentation process, captures it, and reuses it when canning or bottling
- Captured CO2 can be used to grow micro-algae for processing to biofuel, fertilizer, and fish food, among others
- Car manufacturers are using captured CO2 to make a new foam for use in car seats and interiors
- CO2 can be captured and converted to carbon-monoxide and used as a reagent for fuels like ethanol or diesel
- Coffee roasters use CO2 to decaffeinate their coffees
- Greenhouses can use CO2 to enhance plant growth
- Captured CO2 can be converted to baking soda
- Frozen carbon dioxide is used as dry ice
With an abundance of anthropogenic CO2 being produced across industries, finding a home for the carbon dioxide after capture has become a focal point in the CO2 capture industry. In many cases, the costs of capture can be offset in part by effectively utilizing the captured CO2 in a number of applications, as seen above.
The ION team believes the most profitable and largest market for captured CO2 is in Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR). During this well-established and demonstrably safe process, which has been in use since the early 1970s, CO2 is injected into oil depositories where it loosens the oil from geological formations and allows it to move towards extraction wells. Any CO2 that emerges with the produced oil is separated in above-ground facilities and recycled back into the EOR process or injected back into the reservoir for long-term sequestration.
Source: Ion Engineering
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