Toshiba and GE Vernova to advance carbon reduction and efficiency for gas turbine-fired power plants

Toshiba Energy Systems & Solutions Corporation and GE Vernova have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to work together on an integrated Gas Turbine Combined Cycle (GTCC) CCS solution to reduce power plant CO2 emissions. The solution will combine GE Vernova's Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR) system with Toshiba's carbon capture solution, which utilizes Toshiba’s proprietary solvent. This initiative is related to the recently created focus group between Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and GE Vernova, and it was announced during an event attended by METI’s Director-General for Energy and Environmental Policy, Shinichi Kihara, and Toshiba’s and GE Vernova’s representatives.

This collaboration aims to improve the efficiency of CO2 separation and capture by integrating their respective technologies in GTCC power plants in Japan and other parts of Asia, where GE Vernova supplies or will supply the gas turbines. Toshiba and GE Vernova jointly conducted comprehensive feasibility studies with leading utility companies operating GTCC power plants across Japan. These studies, completed prior to the signing of the MoU, confirmed the significant potential of the collaboration.

Toshiba has extensive expertise in the design and construction of thermal power systems that incorporate steam turbines for GTCC systems, and in the development and refinement of CO2 capture systems. It uses a plant’s own heat source to raise the temperature of the solvent used to capture CO2, an approach that eliminates the need for additional boilers to generate steam, and that optimizes and streamlines the system. Comprehensive expertise allows it to do this while minimizing any decline in the plant’s net power output, its generation capacity.

Integrating GTCC and CCS plants reduces capital costs and improves operational flexibility. GE Vernova solutions—such as steam integration, exhaust gas recirculation (EGR), and high gas turbine backpressure—lower costs and expand operational options. For example, GE Vernova’s EGR system recirculates exhaust gases into the turbine inlet, alters exhaust gas composition, allowing for a smaller carbon capture absorber tower, enhanced performance, reduced operating costs, and increased CO2 capture.