Sustainable OPEration of post-combustion Capture plants (SCOPE) is an ACT-funded project which aims to remove barriers to CCUS deployment and accelerate large CO2 capture projects by giving plant operators, regulators and decision makers access to the tools and data that are essential for improving our understanding of amine-based CO2 capture.  The project will build new links between diverse stakeholders and facilitate the exchange of knowledge on technical and regulatory developments through interdisciplinary research and collaboration and the creation of the SCOPE "Stakeholder, Policy, Research and Industry Network" (SPRINT), which will hold thematic seminars for external stakeholders. 

Amine-based chemical absorption is the leading technology for capturing and removing CO2 from certain industrial processes, such as those used in cement, metallurgical and steel industries as well as waste incineration and power plants. Although amine-based technology is not new, early adopters have struggled to secure emission permits due to the lack of data on amine emissions and lack of well-defined regulatory procedures for documenting and modelling amine emissions. As a result, the overall environmental impacts of using amine-based chemical absorption to mitigate industrial emissions over time are not well understood, which hinders the rapid commercialisation of amine-based technologies.  

Aims:

The overall goal of SCOPE is to support the development of technology for emission control and enable the harmonization of regulations for amine-based CO2 capture facilities. It will do this through the:  

1.     Development of effective online monitoring systems and emission control guidelines; 

2.     Validatation of predicted amine emissions from solvents against data generated in the project through test campaigns at six different pilot plants; 

3.     Effective utilization of knowledge about environmental hazards in risk assessment of amine-based CO2 capture plants; and 

4.     Identification of societal concerns, policies and practices that may affect the credibility industrial decarbonisation using amine-based CO2 capture in different countries. 

The three-year project is being carried out by an international consortium consisting of scientific, technological and political experts and stakeholders in Norway, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Germany, India and the United States. 

Work packages:

WP1: Effective emission management tools for large scale deployment

WP2: Demonstration of emission management technologies at capture pilot plants

WP3: Environmental quality standards, impacts and risk assessment

WP4: Mapping state support, market readiness and civil society concerns to promote the legitimacy of amine-based CCUS

WP5: Project management, dissemination, and exploitation