This week, ARC is commissioning the first pilot plant to capture CO₂ from Amager Bakke’s emissions. The pilot plant is the first and very important step on the way to the full-scale plant for which ARC and CMP has just applied for EU funding. ARC aims at capturing 500.000 t/y by 2025 and will contribute substantially to Copenhagen being the first carbon neutral capital in the world.

The climate crisis calls for immediate climate leadership to create substantial CO₂ reductions.

The IPCC, the IEA and the European Commission all points to carbon capture as one of many necessary tools to mitigate climate change.

Therefore, the world-famous waste-to-energy plant ARC in Copenhagen in collaboration with Copenhagen Malmö Port (CMP) is working on developing carbon capture at a large scale by 2025 and this week the project came a big step closer with the inauguration of the pilot plant:

“The climate crisis requires immediate action and large cities across the globe can be major contributors to handle climate change. This is indeed the case for Copenhagen with its goal of becoming CO₂ neutral by 2025. One of the tools in reaching this important goal is carbon capture”, says Lord Mayor of Copenhagen, Lars Weiss.

ARC is aiming at capturing 500.000 tons of CO₂ per year with its project ClimAid. ClimAid is one of the most advanced and innovative CCS projects on European soil which can help decarbonize a hard to abate sector:

“The truly innovative part of our project is the fact that we’re aiming at capturing CO₂ with net zero energy consumption. This is possible since we can turn the residual heat from the capture process into district heating. This will bring down the cost of carbon capture while creating green jobs”, says ARC CEO Jacob H. Simonsen.

ARC is a CCUS innovation ecosystem that has the potential to develop solutions that are applicable for all European waste-to-energy plants connected to a district heating network.

Kickstarting a CCUS hub in greater Copenhagen

The Carbon Capture Cluster Copenhagen (C4) was founded in early 2021. C4 is comprised of several major utility companies in the Copenhagen metropolitan area and is seeking to make carbon capture a crucial element in the green transition.

ARC is working on making carbon capture operational by 2025. This will be an important steppingstone to provide the initial critical mass to offset an additional 2,5 million tons of CO₂ at the C4 members’ facilities. This could kickstart the Copenhagen metropolitan area into becoming Europe’s major CCUS hub. The C4 stakeholders are also investigating the utilization of CO₂ as a commodity for the production of green fuels.

One of the advantages of the C4 collaboration is its diverse composition.

For instance, Copenhagen Malmö Port (CMP) can provide port facilities for temporary storage and further transport of the captured CO₂. Ørsted is aiming at capturing and utilising CO₂ from its own straw-fired unit converting CO₂ into green fuels which can provide green solutions for sectors that cannot be immediately electrified – this will be based on renewable energy from the future Danish energy islands. Last but not least the district heating companies are looking to distributing CO₂ neutral heat to the citizens in the greater Copenhagen area.

The steps ahead

Public investment, the right policies as well as strategic public planning is needed to make carbon capture at ARC a reality.

Currently, ARC and CMP are applying for co-funding from the EU Innovation Fund for the full scale carbon capture plant.

Facts

• Those behind the C4 consortium project are ARC, ARGO, BIOFOS, Copenhagen Malmö Port (CMP), CTR, HOFOR, Vestforbrænding, VEKS and Ørsted
• For further information on C4 press here.
• For an explainer on ClimAid press here.
• For further information on ClimAid:

For further information

Contact ARC’s Head of Communications Nils Thor Rosted, (45) 2925 7240, nitr@a-r-c.dk.