Europe to Lead The Way in CO2 Capture

A group of eight EU countries has signed up to conduct research on CO2 capture in coal- and gas-fired power stations, to provide low-cost technologies for the future.

The DECARBit project, which has been allocated a budget of €15m (NOK120m), will be coordinated by Scandinavian independent research group SINTEF Energy Research.

Scientists will be given four years to research new technologies to cut the costs of separating out the components of the gas mixture.

The project will test the coal or natural gas going to processing plants - which releases a mixture of gases consisting of hydrogen – before storing the CO2.

SINTEF says the project will deal with next-generation technology for CO2 capture, eventually contributing towards "making future technology very much cheaper than the technology that is available for use today".

Over the next six years, the EU is set to invest about €390m in research and development on CO2 capture and storage.

By staff writer