Carbon Clean awards KBR design contract for Orsted’s e-methanol project

CARBON Clean has awarded KBR a contract for the detailed design of a carbon capture plant for Orsted’s FlagshipONE, an e-methanol project in Sweden.

Earlier this year, Orsted awarded technology company Carbon Clean the carbon capture equipment supply contract for the project. Under its newly awarded contract, KBR will provide detailed design of the facility. This follows KBR successfully completing the front end engineering design (FEED) for the plant in 2021.

The modular plant will be designed for easy construction and to allow future replication. It will capture 70,000 t/y of CO2 from a biomass-fired combined heat and power plant in Örnsköldsvik, Sweden. FlagshipONE will involve combining the captured CO2 with renewable hydrogen to produce 50,000 t/y of e-methanol for use in the shipping industry.

Orsted says that the industry is responsible for 3% of global carbon emissions, primarily because 99% of marine fuels are fossil derived.

Aniruddha Sharma, CEO of Carbon Clean, said: “I’m delighted to build on our existing strong partnership with KBR to deliver this hugely significant project. CO2-based synthetic fuels represent a significant new utilisation pathway for captured CO2, and FlagshipONE is the first of many projects that we expect to deliver to meet rapidly escalating demand for these low carbon fuels.”

FlagshipONE will be Orsted’s first commercial-scale facility for power-to-X, a term which refers to energy conversion technology that can be used to store surplus renewable energy as chemical energy. The technologies can be used to produce clean fuels, chemicals, and feedstocks.

Orsted says it will be the largest production site for green e-fuel when it begins operating in 2025.