Technology – PMW Technology

Our process has 4 key stages

1 EXHAUST GAS COOLING

2 CO2 REMOVAL

3 Refrigeration

4 CO2 STORAGE

The exhaust gases pass through a pre treatment process similar to many scrubbers currently available. This cools the gases and removes contaminants such as sulphur oxides and particulates.

1 EXHAUST GAS COOLING

Gases go through a second stage of cooling before the separation process. Up to 99% of CO2 is then removed from the gases. Finally the cold cleaned gases chill the second stage of cooling before being vented to atmosphere.

2 CO2 REMOVAL

Our refrigeration system is similar to the nitrogen cycle technology widely used for natural gas liquefaction or boil-off gas re-liquefaction. Part of the waste heat from refrigeration is used to recover the CO2 in the separation step, resulting in an exceptionally low refrigeration energy consumption.

3 refrigeration

CO2 passes to storage in either gas or liquid form.

This stage uses conventional processes and storage tanks.

4 CO2 STORAGE

The concept of Carbon Capture is not new but until now it has been carried out to provide CO₂ to industrial processes rather than to clean up exhaust gasses. For that reason, the processes used have been large and land based.

Until now Carbon Capture has been done through a variety of methods including amine absorption or membrane processes. Significant R&D activity is taking place to develop these traditional processes in order to meet the challenge of capturing CO₂ from exhaust gasses and in particular in smaller industrial processes or at sea. Changing the fundamental nature of these processes is a big technical challenge. The A3C process is radically different to the traditional Carbon Capture processes. Firstly, it is a cryogenic process which means that it does not use any chemical process to capture CO₂. Secondly, the unique and patented process that we deploy delivers several other important differentiators to traditional collection methods:

Our equipment requires significantly smaller space and can be deployed in a modular form which allows for the system to be easily scaled to the size of the emitting power train. This is of particular importance in crowded industrial applications and in the maritime sector where there is an urgent need to clean up emissions from the 55,000+ ships already in the water, to say nothing of those still to be built. We can deploy solutions for the capture of as little as 2,000 tCO₂/year up to large scale solutions for power trains producing multiple megawatt outputs.
Our equipment has a relatively low power demand. The parasitic power demand for any carbon capture process is an important element in considering the overall effectiveness of the solution. The power demand is a critical factor in both the cost of carbon abatement and it can also limit the environments in which the equipment can be deployed. We have carried out studies in conjunction with independent international consultants which demonstrates that the cost of abatement using our technology is significantly below that from traditional carbon capture technologies.
Our equipment captures a high percentage of the CO₂ in exhaust gases. We have demonstrated that our equipment can capture over 99% of the CO₂ in an exhaust gas. The system can be designed to capture lower fractions to optimise for cost or space constraints.
The process produces CO₂ of purity in excess of food grade which means that it can be fed into other industrial processes without the need for further treatment. We have carried out studies in conjunction with independent international consultants which demonstrate that the cost of abatement using our technology is significantly below that from traditional carbon capture technologies.
For any carbon capture process the way in which CO₂ is stored and transported presents a significant challenge, particularly in the maritime environment – we have innovative solutions for that as well.