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JGC begins development work on carbon-capture technology using LNG cold energy

| By Mary Bailey

JGC Corp. (Yokohama, Japan) announced that domestic EPC operating company JGC Japan Corporation (JGC Japan) has started technical development on carbon dioxide (CO2) capture applying unused cold energy from liquefied natural gas (LNG).

These efforts support development and demonstration in a joint project of Toho Gas Co. Ltd. (Toho Gas) and Nagoya University, Tokai National Higher Education and Research System (Nagoya University) that was selected by Japan’s New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) in May 2022 as a Green Innovation Fund project for development of technology for CO2 separation, capture, and the like. JGC Japan has been contracted by Toho Gas as a participant since September this year.

This development and demonstration is focused on Cryo-Capture technology, which applies unused LNG cold energy in CO2 capture from factory exhaust gas. The R&D builds on the work of Professor Koyo Norinaga of Nagoya University’s Institutes of Innovation for Future Society, whose innovative technique for applying unused LNG cold energy to capture CO2 from factory exhaust gas requires only a small amount of additional energy, which promises to reduce CO2 capture costs.

Because natural gas is liquefied by cooling it to roughly -162°C, much cold energy is released when LNG is regasified at LNG receiving terminals. This underutilized cold energy has attracted attention as a potential energy source for generating power or electricity.

By applying cryogenic expertise acquired from LNG plant/receiving terminal EPC operations, the JGC Group can ensure effective utilization of the unused LNG cold energy. Through test equipment design and other efforts, we will also contribute in verifying the feasibility of practical adoption of this CO2 capture technology. Future contributions may include designing and scaling up pilot plants.

In designing test equipment, JGC will consider specific details, such as absorbent, equipment, and pressure control methods that suit facility structures and operating conditions based on relationships between nitrogen and other impurities, CO2 concentration and partial pressure. JGC Japan will provide support in conceptual design for this process and in optimization design for the various facilities involved.