Inquiries & Help
In subsequent interview, ASCO Director Sales & Engineering Plants Marius Gorczyca explains why ASCO is just the right supplier for this major project and how the implementation process looks like.
Please tell us what the new project is all about.
The bio-refinery Alco Bio Fuel (ABF) and the industrial gas suppliers Messer and the Belgian gas company IJsfabriek Strombeek are joining forces to reduce CO2 emissions in Belgium. Together they are investing about 15 million euros in a brand-new carbon dioxide recovery plant, established at Alco Bio Fuel in the Port of Ghent. During the summer of 2016, this new plant will be operational and process no less than 100,000 tons of green CO2 each year. The required plant technology in its entirety will be provided by ASCO.
Can you briefly explain the advantages of such a recovery system.
This new ASCO plant recovers and purifies the CO2 gas released during the ethanol fermentation process and converts it into a liquid. Result: a reduction of CO2 emissions by 100,000 tons per year which allows ABF to lower their CO2 footprint significantly.
Why do you think that the decision was made on a CO2 recovery plant from ASCO?
As already announced last year, the business divisions for CO2 production and recovery plant construction and dry ice technology of the German BUSE Gastek GmbH & Co. KG have completely been integrated to ASCO CARBON DIOXIDE LTD. Thanks to this merger, we were able to pool our strengths efficiently and expand our combined know-how as well as our product portfolio. Especially in the complex field of CO2 recovery we can now meet the growing economic and environmental customer needs with innovative solutions. Also, we are able to realise such large-scale projects with capacities of over 100,000 tons of CO2 recovery per year.
Please tell us a few words about the implementation process?
The launch of this project was already carried out in May this year. The special feature here: ASCO will also take over the installation of the plant which will be delivered as so called “turn key”. We expect the customer to start with the CO2 recovery summer 2016.
What exactly is included in the ASCO portfolio for plant technology?
With our strong engineering team we are able to cover virtually all market needs in the wide field of CO2 production and recovery. ASCO offers solutions for various CO2 sources, whether it be natural sources, stack gas from combustion of fossil fuels, brewing and other fermentation processes, flue gas from the production of ammonia, hydrogen or ethylene oxide or numerous other industrial sources. The plant capacity depends on the type of installation and goes from 35 kg/h for test facilities up to 15,000 kg/h for large systems for the gas industry. Just this month, we are installing a plant with a daily capacity of 360 MT/D for a customer working in the gas industry in the Caucasus region.
What is ASCO’s individual key to success?
"All about CO2" – our credo says it all. We are exclusively dedicated to this gas in all its facets and versions. Our complete range of CO2 and dry ice solutions also includes special projects, security concepts, training and consulting. Utterly all components which are required on the road to a successful CO2 project.
An also important factor for success is customer care offered by our customer service after a project is finished. So we ensure a sustainable customer satisfaction.
Do you consider the current project an exception in terms of sustainability or are there signs of changes recognisable in handling industrial produced CO2?
The trend is clearly more and more towards CO2 recovery from already existing stack gas or natural sources, not least because of the environmental benefits like a reduced CO2 emission. Of course, economical factors such as lower operating and production costs and an independence of external CO2 suppliers play a crucial role for companies as well. Not to disregard that we serve the most diverse markets worldwide. However, companies are becoming more and more aware of the possibilities to recover CO2 from various sources rather than to produce it themselves – even in third world and emerging markets. This rethinking process is definitely an important step in the right direction in order to effectively reduce CO2 emissions.
Future prospects: What is your opinion regarding market development in the next few years? How exactly does ASCO´s role look like?
Companies are becoming less able to deny the idea and importance of sustainability. From our point of view, CO2 recovery facilities are firmly connected with ecological approaches and it is ASCO´s highest priority to advance these technologies. We continue to be expansion-oriented and pursue a variety of projects, especially in the wide field of CO2 recovery. We want to identify opportunities for our customers so they truly consider an own CO2 recovery onsite, also from sources with lower purity such as stack gas. This approach is of utmost importance to us. Our ASCOSORB CO2 stack gas recovery technology provides a very energy-efficient CO2 production which pays off for companies both ways, ecologically and commercially. Thanks to the merger with BUSE, major projects like the one at the Port of Ghent can now be realised successfully.
Caption: Marius Gorczyca, Director Sales & Engineering Plants at ASCO, answers questions about the new major project of a 312 MTPD CO2 recovery plant in Belgium and the extended ASCO portfolio for plant technology.