News Release

Toshiba to Develop Highly Durable and Environmentally Friendly CO₂ Solvent for Commercialization

~Contributing to a Carbon Neutral Society Through the Use of New CO2 Solvent~

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  • R & D / Technology
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April 10, 2023

Toshiba Energy Systems & Solutions Corporation

KAWASAKI, JAPAN-Toshiba Energy Systems & Solutions Corporation (hereinafter, “Toshiba ESS”) has announced today that it is starting development of a high-performance CO2 solvent for use at a CO2 capture plant in Saga City. The new CO2 solvent developed by Toshiba ESS’s Energy Systems Research and Development Center will be used in the continuous operation of the CO2 capture plant, which has been delivered to a waste incineration plant in Saga City, for several thousand hours, or approximately several months. After confirming the durability of the solvent, the goal is to commercialize the new CO2 capturing solution by the end of FY2023.

In October 2013, Toshiba delivered a small-scale demo skid-type CO2 capture plant to Saga City’s waste incineration plant for a biomass energy utilization project that is being promoted by the city. In 2016, Toshiba made the world's first delivery of a commercial CO2 capture plant to an incineration plant to Saga City’s waste incineration plant. As a result, the plant is now capturing up to 10 tons of CO2 per day from a portion of the exhaust gas generated during garbage combustion.

When CO2 is captured from exhaust gas, an amine-based chemical aqueous solution that absorbs CO2 at low temperature and releases CO2 at high temperature is to be used as the CO2 solvent. From the operator's point of view, there is a need to reduce the operating and maintenance costs of the CO2 capture plant by improving the performance of the CO2 solvent.
Against this background, Toshiba ESS has developed a new CO2 solvent at its Energy Systems Research and Development Center. The new CO2 solvent maintains the same energy requirement per unit of captured CO2 as the current CO2 solvent, while reducing the degradation rate of the solvent. As a result, the operating and maintenance costs of the CO2 capture plant can be reduced. In addition, it is environmentally friendly with low amine emissions into the atmosphere.

Toshiba ESS has verified that the degradation rate of the CO2 solvent is reduced to one-third of the conventional CO2 solvent, and the amount of amine emissions into the atmosphere is reduced to about 10% of the conventional CO2 solvent through approximately 800 hours of operational verification at its CO2 capture pilot plant in Omuta City, Fukuoka Prefecture. The new CO2 solvent will be applied to the CO2 capture plant installed at the incineration plant in Saga City for several thousand hours of continuous operation, with the goal of soon commercializing the new CO2 solvent.

Shinya Fujitsuka, Director and Senior Vice President at Toshiba ESS, said, “Toshiba ESS is very honored to announce the development of this highly durable and environmentally friendly CO2 solvent in cooperation with Saga City. I believe that Toshiba Group is well positioned to provide new value to carbon neutrality by combining its products and services.”

In order to prevent global warming, there is a growing need to achieve carbon neutrality, and expectations for CO2 capture from exhaust gas are increasing. Toshiba ESS will support the social implementation of CCUS* through the development of CO2 capture technology to help contribute to the realization of a carbon neutral society.

Photo of Saga City CO₂ Capture Plant


(Photo courtesy of Saga City, March 2021)

*CCUS: Carbon Dioxide Capture, Utilization, and Storage: Technology to capture and recover, utilize, and store CO2 emitted from thermal power plants, factories, etc.

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