According to estimates from the International Energy Agency, Paris (IEA, 
http://www.iea.org)
worldwide energy consumption will increase by almost 60 % over the next twenty years. Despite an increasing proportion of renewable energies, the consumption of fossil energy carriers will continue to play a central role in the energy mix. CO2 emissions associated with these processes will also increase 60 % from today's level. In their latest energy outlook (IEA Outlook 2004), the IEA base their reference projections on the assumption that the demand for electricity will continue to rise steeply and that today's figure will increase almost twofold over the next thirty years. Coal and gas power plants are dominant and will cover almost two thirds of energy requirements by the year 2030 and cause a good 40 % of global CO2 emissions. Against the background of necessary greenhouse gas reduction, fossil power production is therefore becoming a topic of central concern.
Through its research and development work, Research Centre Jülich has already been involved in increasing and technically implementing the efficiency of electricity production techniques for many years. This spectrum ranges from photovoltaics to high-temperature material systems for power plants. However, adhering to stringent climate protection goals requires new, more extensive approaches. Consequently, the programme "CO2 separation in fossil power plants" was started at Research Centre Jülich in 2004. The tasks in this programme range from membrane development and fabrication, characterisation and technical process analysis to the assessment of suitable power plant processes with respect to energy and the environment. The project will be worked on by different institutes within the Research Centre.
Work on the topic is structured as follows:
| IWV-1: | Development of microporous and dense inorganic membranes for the separation of the technically relevant gases, O2/N2, CO2/H2 and CO2/N2, in fossil power plant processes.
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| IWV-2: | Characterisation of membranes and determination of the properties of membrane materials under operating conditions.
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| IWV-3: | Process engineering analysis of power plant processes, in particular with gas separation.
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| STE: | Assessment of CO2 separation in power plants with respect to energy and the environment.
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| ZAT: | Setting up permeability and selectivity testing equipment for inorganic membranes.
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Links on the topic of CO
2 separation and storage:
last change 04.11.2005 |
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w.a.meulenberg@fz-juelich.de