二氧化碳捕获和储存技术：从“碳中性”到“负排放”From Neutral to Negative

01

Drax计划在其英国发电站展示新的碳捕获和储存技术，具有全球性影响。

Drax’s plan to demonstrate a new carbon capture and storage technology at its power station in the United Kingdom has global implications.

二氧化碳捕获和储存技术是一个有趣的概念，它提供了将碳中性生物质发电站转变为碳负排放发电站的潜力。过去，这些技术被认为太昂贵且不经济，但随着Drax集团前瞻性思维的不断发展，这种技术很快就会改变。

Carbon dioxide capture and storage technologies are an intriguing concept, offering the potential to transform carbon-neutral biomass power plants into carbon-negative facilities. In the past, these technologies have been considered too costly and uneconomical to deploy, but this could soon change with the forward-thinking Drax Group forging ahead.

今年5月， Drax宣布计划在欧洲建立第一个生物能源碳捕获和储存（BECCS）项目，长期而言，这可能会使英国北约克郡Drax生物质燃料发电站产生碳负排放。

In May, Drax announced plans to build a first-of-its-kind bioenergy carbon capture storage (BECCS) project in Europe, which, in the long-term, could result in the generation of carbon-negative electricity at Drax’s biomass-fired power station in North Yorkshire, U.K.

北约克郡的发电站 -英国最大的电站 - 由Drax Power Ltd拥有和运营。该发电站供应英国7％的电力需求，并且是全球唯一最大的可持续生物质能用户。 2017年生产的电力中，有65％是可再生能源 - 足以为400万个家庭供电。

The North Yorkshire plant—the largest power station in the country—is owned and operated by Drax Power Ltd. It supplies 7 percent of the country’s electricity needs and is the single largest user of sustainable biomass for power in the world. Of the electricity it produced in 2017, 65 percent was renewable—enough to power 4 million homes.

与之前Drax参与的碳捕获和储存项目不同，这是一项新技术的早期试验，该技术将研究生物质燃料燃烧后的捕获，而不是煤炭。“这个试点是英国的第一步，但它不会是Drax唯一的一个，”Drax集团首席执行官Will Gardiner说。“我们很快将拥有四个运营的生物质能机组，这为我们提供了一个很好的机会来测试不同的技术，从而可以让Drax，英国和世界提供负排放，并开始减少大气中二氧化碳的数量。”

Unlike the previous carbon capture and storage projects in which Drax has been involved, this one is an early pilot for a new technology that will examine the potential of a different form of post-combustion capture on biomass fuel, rather than coal. “This pilot is the U.K.’s first step, but it won’t be the only one at Drax,” says Will Gardiner, Drax Group CEO. “We will soon have four operational biomass units, which provide us with a great opportunity to test different technologies that could allow Drax, the country and the world to deliver negative emissions and start to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.”

02

脱碳战略

A Decarbonization Strategy

英国政府的“清洁增长战略”确定了与碳捕获利用和储存（CCUS）技术配合使用的可持续生物质发电站，作为从现在到2050年实现脱碳的潜在途径。BECCS被认为是几种温室气体的去除技术之一,可以帮助实现长期的脱碳。能源技术研究所2016年的一份 告显示，到2050年，BECCS每年可在英国提供约5500万吨的净负排放 - 约为全国排放目标的一半。

The U.K. government’s Clean Growth Strategy identified sustainable biomass power stations used in tandem with carbon capture utilization and storage (CCUS) technology as a potential route to achieving decarbonization between now and 2050. BECCS is considered one of several greenhouse gas removal technologies that could help achieve long-term decarbonization. A report by the Energy Technology Institute in 2016 suggests, by the 2050s, BECCS could deliver roughly 55 million tons of net negative emissions annually in the U.K.—about half the nation’s emissions target.

“The biomass we use is considered to be carbon neutral because it is sourced from sustainable, working forests which are growing and absorbing carbon,” says Andy Koss, Drax Power CEO. “The majority of the biomass that we use comes from the U.S. South, where sustainable forest management means that trees are growing faster than they are being harvested, resulting in a net decrease of carbon in the atmosphere. The carbon captured will be stored on site at Drax in compressed form, with a view to working with a partner organization able to use the carbon to create further value in its own processes.”

对于示范项目，Drax将与来自利兹大学的衍生公司C-Capture有限公司合作。 C-Capture公司开发专有的溶剂系统以从大型点源的气流中去除CO2，并以适合存储的形式进行捕获。Drax将投资40万英镑（537,000美元）用于发电站进行BECCS技术试点项目。

For the demonstration project, Drax will partner C-Capture Ltd., a spinoff company from the University of Leeds. C-Capture develops proprietary solvent systems to remove CO2 from the gas streams of large-scale point sources, capturing it in a form suitable for storage. Drax will invest ￡400,000 ($537,000) in what could be the first of several pilot projects undertaken at the company’s power station to demonstrate BECCS technology.

“在Drax，我们与一些大学合作，努力理解并利用新兴技术并支持STEM（科学，技术，工程和数学）学习，”Koss解释说。“我们的R＆I（研究与创新）团队在利兹大学举行的一次会议期间首次会见了C-Capture公司，旨在探索共同感兴趣的领域。由于C-Capture专有溶剂的性质，决定让他们成为我们首选的初始合作伙伴，用我们的生物质烟气来测试他们的技术。C-Capture公司在该项目中扮演着重要的角色，因为他们的溶剂是有机的、成本低及毒性低。”

“At Drax, we work with a number of universities in our efforts to understand and capitalize on emerging technologies and support STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) learning,” Koss explains. “Our R&I (research and innovation) team first met with C-Capture during a meeting at Leeds University aimed at exploring areas of mutual interest. Due to the nature of C-Capture’s proprietary solvent, the decision was made for them to be our preferred initial partner to trial their technology with our biomass flue gases. C-Capture’s role is an important one in the project, as their solvent is organic, low-cost and has low toxicity.”

03

二氧化碳捕获

Finding the CO2 Holy Grail

C-Capture创始人兼利兹大学有机化学教授Chris Rayner表示，该公司已开发出全新的捕获二氧化碳的化学物质，并且测试表明它应该适合捕获生物能源过程中产生的碳。“现在关键的部分是将其从我们自己的设施转移到Drax的真实世界中，”他补充道。“通过试点计划，我们的目标是证明我们开发的技术是实现二氧化碳排放战略的一个成本效益的方式 - 电力生产中的负排放，我们认为这是潜在的二氧化碳减排可能是最大的。”

Chris Rayner, founder of C-Capture and professor of organic chemistry at the University of Leeds, says the company has developed fundamentally new chemistry to capture CO2 , and tests have shown that it should be suitable for capturing the carbon produced from bioenergy processes. “The key part is now to move it from our own facilities and into the real world at Drax,” he adds. “Through the pilot scheme, we aim to demonstrate that the technology we’ve developed is a cost-effective way to achieve one of the holy grails of CO2 emissions strategies—negative emissions in power production, which is where we believe the potential CO2 emissions reductions are likely to be the greatest.”

2012年，Drax开始从煤炭转变为主要由生物质燃料发电的发电机。“我们的生物质发电机组比使用煤时减少80％的碳，”Koss说。“这考虑到整个供应链，并且是独立审计的。”

In 2012, Drax began converting from coal to become a predominantly biomass-fueled electricity generator. “Our biomass generating units deliver carbon savings of 80 percent compared to when they used coal,” Koss says. “This takes account of the whole supply chain and is independently audited.”

Drax是英国最大的单一站点可再生能源发电站，运营着欧洲最大的脱碳项目。 Drax生物质基地位于美国，在路易斯安那州的两个工厂和密西西比州的一个工厂，生产木屑颗粒，由可持续管理的森林生产，供应北约克郡Drax发电站使用的生物质燃料。

Drax is the biggest single-site renewable generator in the U.K., and operates the largest decarbonization project in Europe. Drax Biomass is based in the U.S., and manufactures compressed wood pellets at two facilities in Louisiana and one in Mississippi, produced from sustainably managed working forests, supplying fuel used by Drax Power Station in North Yorkshire.

04

淘汰煤炭

Moving Away From Coal

Koss指出：“我们已经投入巨资，将生意转为使用生物质替代煤炭。”“这项改造花费了我们约7亿英镑（约9.37亿美元），其中约一半是将电站三台发电机组转换成生物质能源的成本，其余部分则是对美国供应链、英国铁路基础设施和合规性的投资，以应对未来的排放要求。”

“We have invested heavily in converting the business to use biomass instead of coal,” Koss notes. “The transformation cost us around ￡700m (nearly $937 million), of which around half was the cost of converting the three generating units at the power station to biomass with the balance being investment in the U.S. supply chain, U.K. rail infrastructure and compliance with future emissions requirements.”

BECCS项目的第一阶段于5月开始，以确定C-Capture公司开发的溶剂是否与Drax发电站的生物质烟气兼容。对发电站烟气脱硫（FGD）吸收器再利用的可行性的实验室研究也将进行，以评估潜在的捕获率。“C-Capture项目的一部分是关于重新调整Drax现有资产，这应该更具成本效益，开发速度更快，”Koss说。 “FGD设备对于减少煤炭的硫排放至关重要，但在Drax的三个发电机组已经升级为使用生物质能的情况下已经变得多余。所用的木屑颗粒产生的硫含量最低。”

The first phase of the BECCS project began in May to determine if the solvent C-Capture developed is compatible with the biomass flue gas from the Drax Power Station. A lab-scale study into the feasibility of reusing the flue gas desulphurization (FGD) absorbers at the power station will also be carried out to assess potential capture rates. “Part of the C-Capture project is about repurposing existing assets at Drax, which should be more cost-effective, and quicker to develop,” Koss says. “FGD equipment is vital for reducing sulphur emissions from coal, but has become redundant on three of the generating units at Drax that have been upgraded to use biomass. The wood pellets used produce minimal levels of sulphur.”

根据可行性研究的结果，C-Capture团队将于秋季进入第二阶段的试验，届时将安装示范机组以隔离生物质燃烧产生的二氧化碳。“作为世界上可持续生物能源的最大用户，Drax发电站在任何地方都可以试用这种技术，”Koss强调说。 “我们希望在进行这项可行性工作时，将进一步深入了解所涉及的工程，并在英国和海外范围内更广泛地提供可应用于CCUS项目的结果。”

Depending on the outcome of a feasibility study, the C-Capture team will proceed to the second phase of the pilot in the fall, when a demonstration unit will be installed to isolate CO2 produced by biomass combustion. “As the largest user of sustainable bioenergy in the world, Drax Power Station is as good a location as anywhere to trial this technology,” Koss stresses. “We hope that in undertaking this feasibility work, we will further our knowledge of the engineering involved, and produce findings that could be applied to CCUS projects more broadly, both in the U.K. and abroad.”

在Drax，BECSS技术示范项目代表着使用更多环保燃料发电的道路上的又一关键步骤。Koss指出：“为了让我们的人员了解项目背后的知识，他们必须明白，煤炭是没有未来的。”一旦他们明白了这一点，我们就能够找到共同的目标和热情来寻找实现这项工程重大壮举所需的解决方案，并延长工厂的使用寿命。

At Drax, the BECSS technology demonstration project represents another key step on the road toward using more environmentally responsible fuel to generate electricity. “For our people to get behind the project, they had to understand that for coal, the writing was on the wall,” Koss notes. “Once they understood that, we could develop a shared purpose and enthusiasm for finding the solutions required to achieve this major feat of engineering and extend the life of the plant.

“我们需要开发一个全新的供应链，并说服整个铁路和港口的供应商和合作伙伴，我们认真对待生物质能，所以他们会和我们合作，”他补充道。“在美国开发我们自己的木屑颗粒厂，并与为我们提供生物质的人合作，我们能够确保他们遵守严格的可持续性要求也是至关重要的。”

“We needed to develop an entirely new supply chain, and convince suppliers and partners across the railways and ports that we were serious about biomass, so they would work with us,” he adds. “It was also vital that in developing our own wood pellet plants in the U.S., and in working with others who supply us with biomass, that we were able to ensure they adhered to stringent sustainability requirements.”

Koss表示，现在讨论出口BECCS技术还为时过早，但当被问及成功的示范如何改变Drax在长期脱碳领域的作用时，他回答说：“如果世界要达到巴黎达成的目标并追求更清洁未来，负排放是必不可少的，而BECCS是帮助实现这一目标的领先技术。”

Koss says it’s too early to discuss exporting BECCS technology, but when asked how a successful demonstration would change Drax’s role in the area of long-term decarbonization, he replies, “If the world is to achieve the targets agreed in Paris and pursue a cleaner future, negative emissions are a must—and BECCS is a leading technology to help achieve it.”

除了环境效益外，Koss还解释说Drax有其他原因来开发和演示BECCS技术。 他说：“我们可以提供可靠和灵活的可再生能源，这是一种碳附排放的做法，帮助数以百万计的家庭和企业依靠它实现脱碳。”“如果成功，该技术可以帮助延长电站的使用寿命，保护Drax和我们供应链中的工作，同时有利于应对气候变化。”

In addition to environmental benefits, Koss explains that Drax has other reasons to develop and demonstrate BECCS technology. “We could be delivering reliable and flexible renewable power, which is carbon negative, helping the millions of households and businesses which rely on it to decarbonize, too,” he says. “If successful, the technology could help to extend the life of the power station, protect jobs both at Drax and in our supply chain, whilst tackling climate change and keeping the lights on.”