Zhejiang's first CCUS demonstration project was implemented in Lanxi Power Plant with remarkable results

This year, the integrated demonstration project of carbon dioxide capture and mineralization utilization of Zhejiang Zheneng Lanxi Power Generation Co., Ltd. was put into operation in Lingdong Township, Lanxi City, Jinhua. The annual amount of carbon dioxide captured and utilized is equivalent to the annual carbon sequestration of 15,000 acres of forest. This is also Zhejiang's first CCUS demonstration project and the country's first full-process coupled demonstration project for carbon dioxide capture and mineralization utilization in a 10,000-ton coal-fired power plant.

What is carbon capture? Project member Qi Zhifu introduced that on the one hand, my country's power, transportation and other industries emit huge emissions, and the carbon dioxide emitted by fossil energy combustion accounts for more than 80% of my country's total carbon emissions; on the other hand, carbon dioxide is actually a "treasure" and rich in carbon resources. "Carbon capture is to accurately 'capture' carbon dioxide from flue gas containing multiple gases for secondary utilization."

Simply put, carbon capture, utilization and storage technology is a process that turns carbon dioxide waste into treasure, and it is also a bottom-up technology to achieve the "double carbon" goal. But behind this, there are many difficulties such as high energy consumption, low efficiency, and difficulty in large-scale application for carbon capture. For many years, domestic and foreign countries have been studying the key to CCUS technology breakthroughs.

In China, since 2021, Gao Xiang, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and director of the Baima Lake Laboratory, has led the team to engage in joint research on industry-university-research on advanced carbon capture materials. Starting from literature research and molecular structure-activity relationship research, to building experimental benches and experimental testing in the laboratory, high-efficiency and low-energy-consuming carbon capture materials were finally successfully developed, becoming one of the top ten scientific and technological innovations selected in the 2023 China Carbon Peak Carbon Neutralization. One of the technical cores of the achievements.

As the integrated demonstration project of carbon dioxide capture and mineralization utilization of Zhejiang Zheneng Lanxi Power Generation Co., Ltd. that applies this material and this technology, it is the first demonstration project in China to apply carbon dioxide mineralized aerated block technology to engineering practice. It is a technical team composed of Zhejiang Energy Science and Technology, Zhejiang Energy Power, Zhejiang Energy Lanxi Power Generation, Baima Lake Laboratory and Zhejiang University collaborated to jointly tackle the problem and implement it.

It is understood that during the continuous operation test, the average carbon capture rate of the project was higher than 90%, and the capture purity was higher than 99%. The captured carbon dioxide can be used to mineralized and maintain aerated blocks, or can also be used to compress and liquefy to produce food grade dry ice to achieve 100% consumption and utilization. 90%, 99%, 100%... this string of data has become the best evidence of this "carbon capture expert".