Doosan Power Systems has chosen Emerson Process Management’s PlantWeb digital plant architecture with the Ovation expert control system to control a new carbon capture demonstration project at the SSE (Scottish and Southern Energy) Ferrybridge coal-fired power station in the north of England. Development of viable carbon capture technology is central to the UK’s climate change and energy security objectives, and this project will demonstrate the technology on a semi-commercial scale over a two-year period beginning in 2011. Currently under construction, the demonstration project will be the largest in Europe, capturing 100 metric tons of carbon dioxide per day -- the equivalent of what might be produced by five megawatts of coal-fired power generating capacity. The carbon capture process consists of an absorption column that uses amine to absorb the carbon dioxide, a stripper column that extracts the carbon dioxide from the amine, and auxiliary processes that polish the amine for reuse and collect the by-products. “The unique significance of the project lies in its scale and its ability to demonstrate the operational characteristics of a capture plant on an actual power station,’’ said Mark Bryant, Director Carbon Capture, Doosan Power Systems. “Emerson’s automation technology is used extensively within the power generation industry and will provide us with reliable, accurate and efficient plant control and the flexibility to adapt as carbon-capture technology evolves.”
