Drax To Pilot More Pioneering New Carbon Capture Technology
The title of this post, is the same as that of this press release from Drax.
This is the first paragraph.
Renewable energy pioneer Drax has partnered with the University of Nottingham and Promethean Particles to trial a pioneering new bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) process at its North Yorkshire power station.
Normally, carbon capture from the flue gas of a power station uses a liquid solvent, which dissolves the carbon dioxide.
However, the process that Drax are trialling, uses porous compounds called metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) to absorb the carbon dioxide.
This page on the Promethean Particles web site described how their carbon-capture works.
Traditional solvent-based carbon capture systems require a significant amount of energy to regenerate the carbon-capturing material. In power generation applications, estimates put this energy penalty at up to 35% of the power station’s output. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) capture carbon mainly through physical, not chemical means. This “trapping” process requires lower energy inputs to regenerate the MOFs and can therefore help achieve more energy-efficient carbon capture. By using MOF-based carbon capture, more of the power generated can go where it was intended, lowering the price of energy for consumers and CAPEX for the power generators.
Note.
- It is a physical rather than a chemical process.
- It is more energy efficient than traditional carbon-capture.
This Drax graphic from the press release, shows how this process can be incorporated into a power plant..
Note.
- The trial will last for two months and will be hosted within Drax’s BECCS incubation hub at its North Yorkshire Power Station.
- Metal Organic Frameworks are a unique class of solid sorbents offering lower operational costs and reducing potential environmental impacts.
Work to build BECCS at Drax could get underway as soon as 2024, with the creation of thousands of jobs.
Fifty years ago, I spent several months at ICI looking at the mathematics of different numbers and sizes of vessels of in a proposed chemical plant, to optimise the cost of the plant.
- I suspect a similar analysis could be applied to this process.
- It would surely be very suitable for Drax, whose main power station has four units fuelled by biomass and another fuelled by natural gas.
- Are two columns containing MOF, the optimum number?
- The calculation could involve a lot of permutations and combinations, which I’ve used to advantage for over fifty years.
I will follow this trial with interest.
Conclusion
This is another application of advanced physics and chemistry.
If Promethean Particles ever decide to go the crowdfunding route, I would look seriously at a small investment.
TfL Advances Plans For DLR And Overground Extensions
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on New Civil Engineer.
This is the first paragraph.
Transport for London (TfL) has confirmed that it is moving ahead with plans to extend the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) and the West London Orbital (WLO), part of the London Overground.
So it appears that despite all their financial problems, some progress is being made.
The Docklands Light Railway Extension To Thamesmead
I first wrote about this project in TfL Considering Extending DLR As Far As Abbey Wood.
Now it appears that TfL has been working with Homes England and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities on a feasibility study for the extension.
I would like to see this extension incorporation the following.
- A signature bridge over the Thames with good views of the river.
- A station with a convenient connection to Crossness, which could become one of major London’s tourist attractions with better transport links.
- A connection to the Elizabeth Line at Abbey Wood station.
It could help to level up Thamesmead, whose main claim to fame is that it was where the violent film Clockwork Orange was made.
The West London Orbital Railway
I have written extensively about this railway and you can see my posts here.
This map from the Mayor’s Transport Strategy shows the route.
I believe this railway could do the following.
- Level-up much of North-West London.
- Provide better access to Heathrow.
- Link West London to High Speed Two and the Elizabeth Line.
It would also provide better links to Brentford’s new stadium.
The New Civil Engineer says this about funding.
TfL now confirms that the West London Alliance has commissioned feasibility work for the scheme. Meanwhile, TfL is considering options for a Borough Community Infrastructure Levy to help pay for it and has been investigating development opportunities on the route that could unlock funds via Section 106 planning obligations and Carbon Offset funding.
Conclusion
It does appear there are ways and means to fund these schemes, without expecting the rest of the UK to fund London’s transport network.
A French Banker’s View Of The French Police
After the violence at the weekend in Paris, I am reminded of a meeting with a French banker.
Many years ago, I used to do business with a French banker; Andre, who lived and worked in Geneva.
Whether, there had been an excess of violence by French police at the time, I can’t remember, but in a restaurant in Geneva we got talking about the different between French police and other forces in Europe. Andre stated that if you join the French police, you immediately lose all your friends, as no-one wants a policeman as a friend, such is the distrust of the police.
Andre had worked all over Europe, and felt that only in France, is there this attitude to the police.
Does this closed society of the French police lead to them going over the top, as they regularly seem to do?
I’d love to know what the French police think of refugees! I wonder, if they see them as a supreme nuisance and feel the sooner, they have left French soil the better.
Hanover Square – 9th May 2022
I went to have a look at the new entrance to Bond Street station in Hanover Square.
I have a strong affection for Hanover Square. The first picture shows a new block now, but it was where my bank manager friend had his office for a time.
I spent a lot of time with him and meetings in that office overlooking the square had a lot to do with the success of Metier Management Systems.
They don’t make bank managers like that anymore.
An Interview With Stephen Crosher, CEO Of RheEnergise
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on UK Investor.
As the title says, Stephen Crosher is the CEO of RheEnergise, who are an innovative energy storage company.
The article is very much a must-read and an interesting insight into RheEnergise.
Shetland’s Viking Wind Farm
I was listening to SSE’s Chief Executive; Alistair Phillips-Davies, on the radio this morning, when he mentioned the Viking wind farm on Shetland.
- The wind farm is being developed by Viking Energy, a partnership between Shetland Islands Council and SSE plc.
- It will have 103 turbines and a nameplate capacity of 370 MW.
- Construction started in September 2020 and should be complete by 2024.
- The wind farm will be connected to the National grid via the Shetland HVDC Connection.
- There’s more on the Viking Energy web site.
Note.
- According to Wikipedia, wind farms in the Shetlands can have capacity factors of over 50 %.
- Viking Energy hope that the Viking wind farm will become one of the most productive onshore wind farms in the world.
- Is it unusual, that the wind farm is developed by a partnership between a local authority and a large utility company?
It also appears that together the Viking wind farm and the Shetland HVDC Connection will allow the 66 MW diesel-powered Lerwick power station to be closed.
Does The Electricity System On Shetland Need Energy Storage?
As an Electrical Engineer, who specialised in Control Engineering, I am surprised that to ensure energy security, that there is no energy storage on Shetland.
In the Wikipedia entry for Lerwick power station, there is a section entitled Load Balancing, where this is said.
The growth of output from wind turbines in Shetland has increased instability in the local grid (which is not connected to the national grid on mainland Scotland). SSE installed a 1 MW sodium–sulfur battery in a nearby building to ameliorate the peak loads. However due to safety concerns, the sodium-sulfur battery was removed prior to commissioning and the energy storage building was reconfigured to accommodate 3MWh of advanced lead-acid batteries.
A combination of the new Shetland HVDC Connection and the lead-acid batteries must be enough to ensure energy security for the Shetlands.
Stadler Reports ‘Best Year’ Since IPO
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Railway Gazette.
This is the first paragraph.
Stadler has reported record orders and earnings before tax for the 2021 financial year.
And these are a few statistics.
- Orders were up by 28%.
- Revenue was up 18 %.
- Earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) was up 43 %.
- EBIT margin rose to 6·2%.
Overall group profits was slightly down on the previous year due to exchange rate losses.
There is a note of caution.
However, it cautions that it is unlikely to achieve its target EBIT margin of 8 to 9% in 2023 as previously forecast, predicting instead that this would be achieved by 2024-25.
Overall the company is doing well and certainly producing the best trains in Europe.
Now That’s What I Call A Mission Statement!
This is a paragraph from the Comment in the Business section of today’s times, with the heading of Mission Statement.
Rousing stuff from Astarta, a Ukrainian agri-group listed in Warsaw spanning sugar, milk and soya beans. Having secured extra financing for the “spring planting” season, its latest update underlines a commitment to “maintaining food security and rebuilding the national economy”. The sign-off? Well, not your typical corporate speak: “We believe in the army of Ukraine! We believe in Ukraine! We believe in our Victory!”
Companies love mission statements. Surely, this is one of the best.
Slava Ukraini!
Is Vlad The Bad Running Out Of Cash?
The BBC News Channel has just reported, that in a speech Vlad the Bad has said, that if you have too much money in your Russian Bank account, that can’t be supported by your salary, then he’ll seize it.
I suppose he needs to pay the gas bill on his little dacha in Sochi.
Longer Duration Energy Storage Demonstration Programme, Stream 1 Phase 1: Details Of Successful Projects
The title of this post, is the same as that of this document from the UK Government.
This is the introduction.
Stream 1 aims to accelerate commercialisation of innovative longer duration energy storage projects through to actual demonstrations. During Phase 1, projects will be expected to mobilise their proposed technologies to prepare for potential deployment on the UK energy system.
These are the projects.
Ballylumford Power-to-X
This is the description of this project in Northern Ireland.
B9 Energy Storage will receive £986,082 to mobilise a 20MW membrane free electrolyser green hydrogen project. Using otherwise curtailed wind power, hydrogen produced will be stored in local underground salt caverns for later use as a fuel in transport and electricity sectors, creating a full-cycle hydrogen economy (production, storage, distribution and usage) on site.
Note.
Ballylumford power station is a 600 MW gas-fired power station, that provides half of Northern Ireland’s electricity.
A 20 MW electrolyser will produce just under nine tonnes of hydrogen per day.
This Google Map shows the location of the power station opposite the port of Larne.
Note.
Ballylumford power station is clearly visible to the East of the channel towards the bottom of the map.
Ballylumford is also the Irish end of the HVDC Moyle interconnector from Scotland, which has a capacity of 500 MW.
Ballylumford would appear to have enough power for a large electrolyser.
Salt Beds In Northern Ireland
This document on the British Geological Survey web site is entitled Geological Storage In Northern Ireland.
The document discusses Irelands energy needs and gives a good description of using compressed air energy storage in salt caverns.
Then these two paragraphs describe the salt bed in Northern Ireland compare them to other deposits under Great Britain.
Thick halite deposits, found both onshore in Northern Ireland and immediately offshore in the North Channel, offer potential for salt cavern storage facilities. The salt deposits occur as bedded deposits with minor halokinesis (geological movement of salt) forming salt swells rather than pillows or domes so that the height of any cavern may be restricted by bed thickness. Pure salt beds tend to be thin (approximately 100-250 metres maximum thickness) compared to those used elsewhere and the presence of significant insoluble impurities and minor intrusive dolerite dykes or sills may reduce their suitability.
The Larne and Carrickfergus area of County Antrim is the only part of the whole island where thick salt beds occur. Elsewhere in the UK parts of Cheshire, Lancashire, Teesside, Humberside and Dorset have similar, or thicker, developments of salt beds and gas storage facilities are either in construction, or are already in operation.
It would appear that the thick salt beds in the Larne and Carrickfergus area could be suitable for gas storage.
Ballylumford might actually be on top of the salt beds, as Carrickfergus is a few miles to the South.
On a personal note, I used to work for ICI Mond Division and during that time and immediately afterwards, I met many people, who had been into the salt mines and worked with boreholes extracting the salt and the one thing everybody said about the salt mine, was that water must not get in.
Membrane-Free Electrolysis
I saw this in operation when I worked at ICI Mond. Most of their hydrogen and chlorine was produced using the main Castner-Kellner process at Castner-Kellner works in Runcorn. That is a nasty process that uses a lot of mercury, which got into the air and plant operators’ bodies.
But ICI also had a much smaller plant, where they used simple electrolysers, that had a metal cell, with a concrete top, with the anode and cathode going through the concrete into the brine. I seem to remember that its main purpose was to provide mercury-free hydrogen, chlorine and sodium hydroxide. I can remember seeing workers rebuilding the cells, as was done on a regular basis.
These were membrane free electrolysers and had been running successfully for many years.
Searching the Internet for “membrane free electrolyser” I found a company in Doncaster called CPH2.
The home page on their web site declares
Clean Power Hydrogen are the manufacturers of the unique Membrane-Free Electrolyser
Turning to the About page, this is said.
Being passionate about hydrogen as clean energy for the future, we wanted to find an alternative to PEM electrolysers as these had barriers to adoption. We realised that the cleanest way to produce hydrogen was by membrane-free water electrolysis, and in doing so, it would be a less expensive and more robust technology.
Dr. Nigel Williamson and Joe Scott established CPH2 (Ireland) in 2012 with the ambition to help clean up the environment for our children and future generations. Entering the green technology sector; a high growth and profitable market, they developed a Membrane-Free Electrolyser™ to produce hydrogen faster, more reliably, and more cost-effectively than other electrolysers.
They also have the ambition to be leading developer and manufacturer of green hydrogen technologies and an Irish connection.
My experience says that their technology will work. Especially, with the application of modern materials.
Have the Government backed the Ballylumford Power-to-X project, as they can back two promising technologies with one grant?
GraviSTORE
This is the description of this project.
Gravitricity Limited will receive £912,410.84 to design their multiweight energy store demonstrator project, which will store and discharge energy by lifting and lowering multiple weights in a vertical underground shaft.
Note.
- I like the Gravitricity concept and have invested through crowdfunding.
- The project will be based on a brownfield site in Northern England.
- Gravitricity’s current demonstrator in Edinburgh, which I wrote about in Gravitricity Celebrates Success Of 250kW Energy Storage Demonstrator, only uses a single weight, but this project talks about multiple weights.
According to other sources on the Internet, the demonstrator will have a storage capacity of 4 MWh and will be built on a brownfield site.
Will we see Gravitricity coming to a disused deep coal mine near you?
Long Duration Offshore Storage Bundle
This is the description of this project.
Subsea 7 Limited and FLASC B.V. will receive £471,760.00 to further develop the Long Duration Offshore Storage Bundle which will store energy as a combination of pressurised seawater and compressed air, using an innovative hydro-pneumatic technology.
Note.
- Subsea 7 Limited are a subsea engineering, construction and services company serving the offshore energy industry, domiciled in Luxembourg with headquarters in London.
- According to their web site, FLASC B.V. is a spin-off of the University of Malta, established in The Netherlands in 2019.
On the page on the FLASC web site, which is labelled The Technology, this is said.
FLASC is an energy storage device that can be integrated directly into a floating offshore platform. Energy is stored using a hydro-pneumatic liquid piston, driven by a reversible pump-turbine.
Charging Mode: electricity is used to pump water into a closed chamber containing pre-charged air.
Discharging Mode: the pressurised water is released through a hydraulic turbine to generate electricity.
FLASC leverages existing infrastructure and supply chains, along with the marine environment itself as a natural heatsink, resulting in a safe, reliable and cost-effective solution.
There is also this video.
The news page on the FLASC web site is a comforting read.
My knowledge of modelling vessel systems for chemical plants, tells my brain to like it.
Vanadium Flow Battery Longer Duration Energy Asset Demonstrator
This is the description of this project.
Invinity Energy Systems will receive £708,371 to demonstrate how a 40 MWh Vanadium Flow Battery could deliver long duration storage-enabled power on demand from UK-based solar generation.
Note.
- I wrote about Invinity Energy Systems in UK’s Pivot Power Sees First Battery On Line By 2021.
- Invinity Energy Systems was formed by a merger of RedT and Avalon Battery.
- The project appears to be located at Bathgate in Scotland.
This picture from EdF shows a large vanadian flow battery.
Invinity Energy Systems flow battery at Energy Superhub Oxford
If this project works out, vanadium flow batteries would be a good replacement for lithium-ion batteries.
Cheshire Energy Storage Centre
This is the description of this project.
io consulting will receive £1 million to enable its consortium to develop an electricity storage facility which could use mothballed EDF gas cavities in Cheshire utilising Hydrostor’s Advanced Compressed Air Energy Storage technology
Note.
- This is another project based on salt caverns.
- I wrote about Canadian company; Hydrostor in Gigawatt-Scale Compressed Air: World’s Largest Non-Hydro Energy-Storage Projects Announced.
- Hydrostor have received at least one large order for their system.
I have put Hydrostor on my list of tecnologies that should make it.
Conclusion
This is a well-balanced list of projects.
I would rate success as follows.
- Ballylumford Power-to-X – 60 %
- GraviSTORE – 80 %
- Long Duration Offshore Storage Bundle – 60 %
- Vanadium Flow Battery Longer Duration Energy Asset Demonstrator – 70 %
- Cheshire Energy Storage Centre – 80 %
But then all these projects are a bit of a gamble
The Anonymous Widower 