The coal burning plant will separate carbon dioxide emissions, squash them to a fraction of their original volume and ultimately force them 1,000 metres below the earth’s surface into porous rock, the report said.
The plant operators, Vattenfall, have worked for two years to get the pilot running. "We are very proud – we think this is the future for coal," the BBC quoted Vattenfall’s Hubertus Altmann as saying.
The European Union wants to see 10 to 12 full-scale power plants demonstrating carbon capture within the next few years, but although a number of other pilot projects are in the works, no full-scale CCS coal plant has yet been commissioned.
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