It was recently announced that Mitsubishi Heavy Industries will be installing a Co2 capture pilot plant at a power plant in Japan. This power plant is the Himeji No.2 power plant, based in Hyogo and the purpose of this will be to test its proprietary process.

This project is part of MHI Group’s wider goal to achieve carbon neutrality by 2040 and to do this, one approach the company is taking is to work towards decarbonising the energy demand and supply sides. The company is focusing on an ‘Energy Transition’ which is looking directly at decarbonising the energy supply side. An essential part of this project is the development of a CO2 solutions ecosystem which is able to integrate carbon emissions which are from diverse sources. Furthermore, the company is designing the ecosystem so that it has options for carbon storage and utilisation.

The idea behind the development of this new plant is to create a place to demonstrate the next-generation carbon capture technology and compare it to the existing pilot plant installed at Nanko Power Station. The existing technology was installed in 1991 and the comparison will be made so that the companies can consider the new technology as a substitution for the old technology. This is how MHI plans to start their operations in FY2025.

The new pilot plant will be installed for R&D of Co2 capture technology and this technology will operate through the use of flue gas taken from the gas turbine at Himeji No.2 Power Station, which has a daily five-ton capture capacity. This technology has been under development with ExxonMobil, as part of an agreement between the two companies, that has been ongoing since 2022. The benefits of using this new technology include its ability to accelerate R&D, which will help its aim to reduce environmental impacts and costs, whilst simultaneously strengthening its competitiveness. Furthermore, the project plans to implement a remote monitoring system of ΣSynX (Sigma Syncs) Supervision, which is MHI's digital innovation brand. The addition of this monitoring system will make it possible to monitor the operation status of the plant located at MHI Yokohama Building, and various other sites. This monitoring system will also allow the plant to automatically start and stop operations through the use of a remote control.

The final part of this project is the development of KM CDR Process™ (Kansai Mitsubishi Carbon Dioxide Recovery Process) and the Advanced KM CDR Process™. The MHI Group has been developing this technology within a collaboration with The Kansai Electric Power Co., Inc. and this has been ongoing since 1990. So far, this technological development has been well received and it was stated this month that the company has delivered sixteen plants which have chosen to adopt the new technology, plus a further two are now under construction.

This innovative technology works through the use of the KS-21™ solvent, whilst also combining all the improvements which have been determined from each of the other sixteen plants. This new and improved version offers superior regeneration efficiency and lower deterioration in comparison to the KS-1™. On top of this, the new system is also verified to provide excellent energy saving performance, reduce operation costs, and result in low amine emissions.