Unique pilot project around carbon capture and storage

“This is the first project of its kind in Europe”, says Anna-Maria Béregi Amnéus, head of development and sustainability at SMA Mineral. It’s also a first significant step towards a carbon-free production facility for burnt lime and dolomite.

A quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions come from industry today. And according to the International Energy Agency, CO2 capture and storage — known as CCSU (Carbon Capture Storage and Utilization) — must account for no less than half of the reduction in global emissions.

As a part of this critical work, a major pilot project in Mo i Rana, Norway, is starting at the turn of the year.

Close cooperation

“The project’s goal is to reduce emissions and the success factor is cooperation,” Anna-Maria explains. Project owner is Mo Industripark AS and the project manager is the research institute SINTEF. Other partners are Alcoa Mosjøen, Elkem Rana, Elkem Salten, Celsa Armeringsstål, Ferroglobe Mangan Norge, NorFraKalk, Norcem Kjøpsvik and Olje- och gasklynge Helgeland.

“One of the advantages is the proximity between different industrial activities,” says Anna-Maria. SMA Mineral contributes with installations, cash and work effort.

Mixing various flue gases

A mobile Carbon Capture pilot — put simply, a pipeline — is to be installed between Elkem and SMA Minerals facilities in Mo i Rana to capture carbon dioxide from the flue gases from both plants. “It’s a first step to investigating how mixing different flue gases that differ in composition and carbon content”, Anna-Maria explains. “If this pilot project is successful, the next step will be to build a full-scale CCUS plant (Carbon Capture Usage Storage) to collect all the carbon dioxide from all companies in Mo Industripark. This means a possible capture of 1.5 million tons of carbon dioxide.

An important direction

Next, the idea is for carbon dioxide to be transported for final storage to an empty gas well off the coast of Norway. “Carbon capture and storage is an important direction to take for a climate-neutral production and this project will teach us a lot about the process.