Recently the Research Council of Norway allocated NOK 5.9 million to build-up Norwegian-Chinese research networks in climate and environmental technology.

This includes NOK 1 million for the establishment of alliances between research institutes and university groups that are conducting research in carbon capture and the storage of CO₂.

Strong research groups
- We have the strongest Chinese research groups with us, says SINTEF’s Jens Hetland, who is an expert on CO₂ capture. SINTEF will coordinate two of the three Norwegian-Chinese networks in CO₂ management.

Part of the Chinese team with SINTEF is Tsinghua University, the leading Chinese university of technology.

Golden opportunity
- Initially, we will define the focus of the main research projects that both countries are interested in starting up. Then we will prepare project proposals and ensure that they will be designed to attract industrial partners. Both Norwegian industry and research institutes will therefore have a golden opportunity find a position in the expanding Chinese market for CO₂ capture, says Hetland.

While full-scale CO₂ capture is a slow process in Norway, the Chinese have been quick to get off the mark and already have nine test plants in operation. The largest of them is the same size as the test centre which is now under construction at Mongstad, in western Norway.

Currently, the Chinese are building three large-scale treatment plants for gas processing in coal power plants. These three facilities will individually take care of as much CO₂ as the planned full-scale plant at Mongstad – that means one million tonnes a year.

Next generation of capture
According to Hetland the Chinese say that they are impressed by the fundamental physical knowledge and numerical models built up in the Norwegian research community in energy systems and CO₂ capture.

- The development of the next generation of capture is about finding solutions that use much less energy than the first generation plants. Here good physical knowledge and numerical models are alpha and omega in the effort to achieve such solutions, says this SINTEF researcher.

He has had numerous project trips to China and knows the energy sector in the country like the back of his hand.

- The Chinese are keen to achieve energy efficient CO₂ capture due to their environmental challenges at home and see opportunities in the export of CO₂ capture and storage technology to the rest of the world, says Jens Hetland.

See article on Focus on energy-efficient capture