CO2 capture for sustainable cultivation

Crops need CO2 to grow. In greenhouse farming, CO2 fertilization via flue gases from the heating system has been common practice for years.

The problem is that you do not always need both heat and CO2 at the same time.  On hot summer days, for example, you don't need extra heat, but you do need CO2. During cold winter nights you do need to heat a greenhouse, but plants cannot convert CO2 because they need light to do so.

We can solve that by storing purified CO2 from the flue gases of the heating installation. This leads to a more targeted and efficient use of the heating installation. That is why our researchers are building a first purification installation at a natural gas boiler on site with the support of the Agency for Innovation & Enterprise of the Flemish Government (VLAIO).

Goal

With this project we want to use the heating installation more efficiently by decoupling heat demand and CO2 demand. We do this by capturing and temporarily storing the CO2 from the flue gases.

A second goal is to obtain qualitative CO2 that we can use as plant food in the greenhouse.  We use the test setup at Thomas More as a demonstration for the greenhouse sector.

Results

The first step in the project is the investment in a purification installation at the natural gas boiler at Thomas More in Geel. The operation of that installation will be extensively tested with the aim of making it operational for application in the greenhouse horticultural sector (this is being carried out within the Interreg project Energlik). The installation on the campus will serve as a demo set-up for interested parties.