A field study took place at the tomato nursery The Valley in Vierpolders in 2024 on the technical and economic performance of a technique for CO₂ capture and temporary storage of CHP fumes and its effect on young tomato plants.
Research components
The Valley / Aardwarmte Vierpolders started the pilot together with Value Maritime to use an installation to capture and temporarily store CO₂ from the CHP. The Valley / Aardwarmte Vierpolders wanted to get a better idea of the technical and economic feasibility. The aim of the pilot was to make better use of the CO₂ from the CHP because the running hours shift to times when the sun shines less. This is significant because, precisely when there is more supply from solar PV, electricity prices are lower.
WUR Glastuinbouw and The Valley/Aardwarmte Vierpolders provided part of the research.
- WUR Glastuinbouw investigated the quality of CO₂ by growing tomato seedlings in four small containers (0.42 m³). Two containers served as reference and in two containers the CO₂ from the pilot was dosed to 800 ppm.
- Voort Brielle Nursery / Aardwarmte Vierpolder made a rough economic analysis of the system.
Quality CO₂ from cleaned flue gases from CHP and shipping
New technologies make it possible to capture CO₂ from cleaned flue gases from the CHP, as well as from shipping, and temporarily store it in a CO₂ battery. The question is whether the quality of this source of CO₂ and this new technology is sufficient for use in horticulture. The study found that the quality of the CO₂ meets the set requirements.
The Valley sees the technology as a good option in the transition to fossil-free greenhouse horticulture. According to the growers, a larger field test is needed to see how it all works in practice and how much the growers can start using the capture and storage system.
Funding
This project was carried out by Wageningen University & Research in collaboration with The Valley and was funded and coordinated by Kas als Energiebron, an innovation program of the Ministry of LVVN and Glastuinbouw Nederland. It was made possible in part by Kennis in je Kas (KijK). The trial was supervised by The Valley, Aardwarmte Vierpolders, and Value Maritime.
Source: Greenhouse as a source of energy