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    Elkem trying Mobile Carbon Capture unit at Silica Smelter in Norway

    Jan. 24, 2023
    The pilot is a collaboration between Elkem and other partners, with the goal of capturing 1.5 million tons of CO2 from their combined emissions. Partner firms include SMA Mineral, Mo Industripark, SINTEF, Celsa Group and Alcoa
    Image credit Elkem
    Elkem Carbon Capture 63d002fc639bc

    Metal manufacturing company Elkem has inaugurated a carbon capture pilot for smelters at its plant in Norway.

    Delivered by Aker Carbon Capture, the Mobile Test Unit (MTU) has been connected to Elkem’s plant in Rana, which produces microsilica and ferrosilicon using renewable hydropower.  Elkem says it’s the first such project in the world for smelters.

    “The Mobile Test Unit was built in 2008 and has continuously been upgraded in accordance with our latest technology developments,” Valborg Lundegaard, Chief Executive Officer at Aker Carbon Capture, said.

    The company can therefore “offer our customers a unique opportunity to test our technology at their site and de-risk the project prior to a possible full-scale implementation.”

    The pilot is a collaboration between Elkem and other partners, with the goal of capturing 1.5 million tons of CO2 from their combined emissions. Partner firms include SMA Mineral, Mo Industripark, SINTEF, Celsa Group, Alcoa, Ferroglobe, NorFraKalk, ACT Cluster, Norcem and Aker Carbon Capture.

    Testing is expected to begin in a couple of months at SMA Mineral.

    The pilot is part of a larger R&D project, CO2 HUB Nord, which is funded by Climit Demo and runs over two years. The project is mainly aimed at verifying the technology on real industrial gases from smelters and other process industries, in order to prepare a full-scale plant for industrial carbon capture.

    Carbon capture and storage could allow industrials and power generators to continue utilizing baseload fossil fuels with high energy density but still lower their emissions. Several companies are trying CCS projects in the U.S.

    “Carbon capture can potentially contribute significantly towards our global climate roadmap of reducing emissions towards net zero while growing supplies to the green transition,” Elkem’s CEO Helge Aasen said.

    “At the same time, Elkem is dependent on our stakeholders to enable green technologies at an industrial scale. That is why we are particularly pleased about the good collaboration between several partners in this project, and we will monitor the results of the pilot closely,” Aasen added.

    Elkem is a Norway-based provider of advanced material solutions. It develops silicones, silicon products and carbon solutions by combining natural raw materials, renewable energy and human ingenuity.

    About the Author

    EnergyTech Staff

    Rod Walton is senior editor for EnergyTech.com. He has spent 14 years covering the energy industry as a newspaper and trade journalist.

    Walton formerly was energy writer and business editor at the Tulsa World. Later, he spent six years covering the electricity power sector for Pennwell and Clarion Events. He joined Endeavor and EnergyTech in November 2021.

    He can be reached at [email protected]. 

    EnergyTech is focused on the mission critical and large-scale energy users and their sustainability and resiliency goals. These include the commercial and industrial sectors, as well as the military, universities, data centers and microgrids.

    Many large-scale energy users such as Fortune 500 companies, and mission-critical users such as military bases, universities, healthcare facilities, public safety and data centers, shifting their energy priorities to reach net-zero carbon goals within the coming decades. These include plans for renewable energy power purchase agreements, but also on-site resiliency projects such as microgrids, combined heat and power, rooftop solar, energy storage, digitalization and building efficiency upgrades.