Eesti Energia still planning to develop CO2 capture technology

Eesti Energia's Enefit Power.
Eesti Energia's Enefit Power. Source: Ken Mürk/ERR

Estonia's shale oil industry is still searching for a way to capture and monetize carbon dioxide, or CO2, but has not yet found the right technology.

Eesti Energia is taxed on its CO2 emission and wants to find ways to reduce this. A study commissioned this year sought to find an answer but the deadline for its completion has been postponed for 18 months.

There are several reasons for this, Friday's "Aktuaalne kaamera" reported.

One is that the company uses different kinds of technology and it is not possible to apply one method straightforwardly, said Alar Konist, professor and head of research at TalTech.

Additionally, there are also plans to change the company's output from oil shale to the chemical industry and making sure the technology is as efficient as possible is the priority, rather than the speed of implementation.

"The most important thing is that, in cooperation with Taltech, we have found ways to capture 95-100 percent of the CO2 emitted. And we have also been working so far to identify the companies that could help us in the transformation," said Margus Vals, Eesti Energia management board member.

There are also new studies about how to transport, store and reprocess CO2.

"There hasn't been much interest or need for it so far, but now that the CO2 quota fees are so high, it's an incentive to capture CO2 and it's an incentive to recycle CO2. So on the one hand, high CO2 prices are a big additional cost, but on the other hand, from the point of view of technological development and the technological revolution, it is positive," said Konist.

Eesti Energia wants to become carbon neutral by 2040.

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Editor: Helen Wright

Source: Aktuaalne kaamera

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