Norway has inaugurated a CO2 capture test facility at the Technology Centre Mongstad (TCM). Partially based on Alstom's Chilled Ammonia technology, Mongstad's new test centre would be Europe's largest such centre for CO2 capture. The center has two carbon capture plants with a combined capacity to process 100,000 tons of CO2 per year.
TCM's partners Gassnova, Statoil, Shell and Sasol had selected Alstom as one of two suppliers to build and test CO2 capture facilities, which are located near Bergen. Alstom plans to undertake testing and operations program for 12 to 18 months beginning this year and expects new developments and improvements during the test period. The company stated an earlier pilot program and a validation plant operation with the Chilled Ammonia Process gave expected performance levels, without any detrimental environmental impact.