'Commercially Viable' Large-Scale Carbon Dioxide Capture Technology Transferred to SK Materials

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bong-su] The Korea Institute of Energy Research announced on the 15th that it has transferred technology to SK Materials Co., Ltd. that captures carbon dioxide (CO2), which accounts for the majority of greenhouse gases, to reduce emissions.

In this regard, the government declared last year a 37% reduction in greenhouse gases by 2030 compared to natural increase levels and carbon neutrality by 2050. Even with reduced dependence on fossil fuels, to reduce CO2 emissions from industrial facilities, it is essential to selectively capture and compress large amounts of CO2 generated by industries and use it directly or indirectly, or isolate it in deep saline aquifers or depleted oil reservoirs about 1,000 meters underground through Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) technology.

The research team led by Dr. Yeo-il Yoon of the Greenhouse Gas Research Laboratory at the institute recently localized CO2 capture technology applicable to various industries such as thermal power plants, steel mills, cement, petrochemicals, and glass melting furnaces. Compared to overseas technologies, they lowered CO2 capture costs by using cheaper absorbent raw materials and process technology operable with less energy, secured key absorbent compositions, and fully localized fundamental design and engineering technologies, proving performance through three demonstration projects.

Currently, there is no domestic technology with large-scale CO2 capture operational experience, and if scale-up through medium-scale demonstrations is not achieved within 2-3 years, paying high licensing fees to overseas companies such as Mitsubishi Heavy Industries will be inevitable.

The CO2 capture technology developed by the research team, called ‘KIERSOL (trademark 40-09300696),’ is a liquid absorbent and process technology for CO2 capture patented in seven countries (Korea, USA, China, Canada, Australia, India, Germany). It selectively absorbs and captures CO2 contained in mixed gases and consists of a combination of an absorption tower and a regeneration tower. The CO2 separated by KIERSOL is about 99.5% pure and can be used up to semiconductor-grade CO2 (99.999%) through a high-purity liquefaction process.

KIERSOL is an aqueous absorbent mainly composed of potassium carbonate mixed with a reaction rate promoter that has strong oxygen resistance. It has been subdivided and developed into KIERSOL-P (for petrochemicals under 10 atm), KIERSOL-N (for natural gas power plants), KIERSOL-C (for coal-fired power plants/cement/steel), and KIERSOL-B (for biomethane) according to the characteristics of the mixed gas. The process design technology was developed in-house, and to promote commercialization, the world’s third 1-ton CO2/day scale mobile process was produced in six 40-foot export-type containers, allowing domestic and international CEOs to view real-time operational data on-site, facilitating investment decisions in domestic technology.

Dr. Yeo-il Yoon, the research director, said, “By applying this technology to full-scale commercialization and lowering CO2 capture costs, we can lead the global commercialization of CCUS. Especially, since this technology can also capture CO2 generated during by-product hydrogen production processes, it is expected to play a key role in future blue hydrogen production.”

SK Materials Co., Ltd. plans to utilize the ‘CO2 capture technology (KIERSOL)’ transferred from the institute as a core technology for CCUS business expansion not only in Korea but also in the North American region (exclusive license).

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.