New collaboration in developing carbon dioxide capture

Luleå/Kalix The Swedish packaging industry Billerud Korsnäs, is collaborating with Luleå University of Technology in developing a technique that captures carbon dioxide from the industry for storage in the bedrock. The project has been granted ten million SEK by the Swedish Energy Agency.

The idea is to capture so called biogenic carbon dioxide that is generated from the combustion of biomass at the packaging company Billerud Korsnäs´ production unit in Karlsborg in northern Sweden.

- The novelty is that we use industry’s internal biproducts to capture the carbon dioxide and that we for the first time investigate on a national scale the potential for geological storage of carbon dioxide in Sweden, says the project leader Glenn Bark, senior lecturer in ore geology at Luleå University of Technology.

A technique is developed at Luleå University of Technology that will more effectively capture the biogenic carbon dioxide. Thereafter the gas is converted to bicarbonates, which is a water-soluble form of carbon dioxide and thus safer to pump down into the bedrock.

The next step is to store the carbon dioxide in a safe way so it does not leak into the atmosphere. Best condition for this is in volcanic bedrock. When injected into especially basaltic or volcanic bedrock the carbon dioxide within two years convert to the safer mineral, carbonate. Then the carbon dioxide is captured until the bedrock has eroded down to same level that the carbon dioxide was injected to, which will take millions of years.

– We work continuously with reducing our climate footprint. Our production in Karlsborg is 99% fossil free and sustainability is important in our operation. The challenges that the world is facing require collaboration and we look forward to being part of finding solutions to further improve our climate, says Eva Ekholm Stenberg, technical manager at Billerud Korsnäs in Karlsborg.

The project is part of the governmental climate initiative, Industriklivet.