CO2 Separator
Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) said on October 16 that the company held a ceremony in honor of the completion of the world's largest 1MW carbon dioxide separator demonstration plant at Dangjin Thermal Power Plant headquarters of Korea East-West Power Company.
The demonstration plant completed this time will separate 7,000 tons of carbon dioxide per year from Dangjin Thermal Power Plant Unit 5 using a CO2 separator jointly developed by KEPCO and Astroma. The carbon dioxide separator is based on low-cost, high-efficiency technology for separating more than 90% of carbon dioxide emitted from a thermal power plant by separating carbon dioxide from coal combustion at a thermal power plant by using differences in sizes with other molecules such as oxygen.
KEPCO and Astroma secured the core technology of a CO2 separator in a gamut ranging from original technology to plant construction through the completion of the demonstration plant for the CO2 separator. Based on this, KEPCO and Astroma are planning to launch overseas projects in the Philippines with a high proportion of coal power generation in earnest. Already in August, the company landed a 43-billion-won order for a liquefied carbon dioxide plant in the Philippines. On September 29, the company signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Mauvan City, Quezon State in the Philippines, to go ahead with a separation membrane technology project.
"The completion of the carbon dioxide membrane demonstration plant will go down in history as a case that contributed to the creation of jobs and national interests by cooperating with small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in all processes from original technology development to export," said Kim Dong-seop, head of the New Growth Engine Technology HQ at KEPCO. “KEPCO will contribute not only to the reduction of national greenhouse gas emissions and climate change but also to the expansion of the new energy industry by continuing to make efforts to develop future technologies such as turning carbon dioxide into resources." The completion ceremony was attended by roughly 100 people including Kim Dong-seop, head of the New Growth Engine Technology HQ at KEPCO, Bae Sung-hwan, director of the KEPCO Electric Power Research Institute, Kim Hong-jang, mayor of Dangjin, Park Hee-seong, acting president of Korea East-West Power and Shin Ki-young, president of Astroma.