CO₂ management is a term that covers the capture of CO₂ from industrial processes as well as the transport and storage of CO₂ in rock structures.

SINTEF is one of the few R&D institutions that can work in all aspects of the CO₂ chain. Some of our pioneering projects in the field were started in 1987 to 1988. However a real boost to our research came in 2000 when the Research Council of Norway put such research high on the political agenda and implemented strategic measures to develop world-class expertise. 

New projects were defined and built up a strong national foundation for this research work. SINTEF's executive management was not slow in grasping the opportunity to launch an international strategy. Our work in the European Commission’s 6th framework programme has led to a doubling of our project portfolio in CO₂ processing in only three years, so this now represents an annual turnover of about NOK 40 million. This work has been coordinated with the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and we currently are managing Europe’s largest R&D project for CO₂ capture.

We are also in the running for the contract to coordinate the pilot project for HYPOGEN, which is Europe’s answer to FutureGen (USA). Hypogen is an initiative that will enable gaspower plants to combine hydrogen production with CO₂ storage in Europe by 2012.

We also see considerable opportunities in the formation of Gassnova in Grenland, Telemark.

There is little doubt that our extensive expertise and leading edge R&D in CO₂ processing puts SINTEF in the ideal position to make significant contributions to the broad national drive to realize green power production with CO₂ capture.

Possible CO₂-storage in the Sleipner gas field