“Power generation is a highly attractive, growing market segment and an area of strategic focus for Rolls-Royce, where partnerships can help further grow market position and broaden its power generation offering,” said Tobias Ostermaier, President Stationary Power Solutions at Rolls-Royce Power Systems.
The plan is to make the captured CO2 available for use in various industries such as food production, e-fuels, sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), cement and plastics production. The captured CO2 will also be ready for transportation should permanent sequestration be preferred, the partners say.
Rolls-Royce is contributing its experience in the field of decentralised power generation to the partnership through its Power Systems division which includes the mtu product portfolio.
The contribution of LMPH, a developer of high-efficiency combined heat and power projects, is principally its patented FLEXPOWER PLUS® concept. This incorporates organic Rankine cycle systems, as well as carbon capture, see diagram.
ASCO, which has “over 50 years of experience in developing and building carbon capture/CO2 recovery plants” and will be “providing valuable insights and solutions from the carbon capture industry.”
“We are convinced that CO2 capture and storage systems in combination with our mtu gas gensets are an important building block on the way to Net Zero,” says Tobias Ostermaier. “As a complement to renewable energy sources, internal combustion engines can already provide clean, cost-effective and extremely reliable power generation.”
The technology to be offered via the partnership will see its initial deployment in a first-of-its-kind £30 million 10 MW decarbonised flexible power generation and carbon capture plant that is currently under construction in Rhodesia, Worksop, Nottinghamshire, UK. It will employ mtu 20V4000 gas engines.
The ASCO CO2 recovery plant for Rhodesia will capture the CO2 in the flue gas and process it into food-grade liquid CO2. Prior to plant commissioning, BUSE Gases signed a contract to purchase the food-grade CO2 for 15 years. The contract is also a first of a kind. “In principle, this agreement guarantees a stable and reliable supply of tens of thousands of tons of food-grade CO2 per year, independent of any fertiliser production,” said Dimitris Sfikas, CEO of BUSE Gases Ltd.
