Demonstration of a novel instrument for online monitoring of absorber emissions to air

Abstract

A novel concept for online monitoring of nitrosamines, solvent amines and their degradation products in amine absorber emissions to air was demonstrated at the Tiller CO2-lab pilot facility. The monitoring concept is based on SINTEF patent No. PCT/EP2011/073557. The measurement method applies gas sampling by capture of analytes in a condensate stream from a single stage condensate collector unit. An improved design for the SINTEF prototype for online gas and liquid measurements has been established as part of the CCUS-ALIGN project. The new design has low complexity and improved robustness, making it applicable as integrated part of industrial monitoring systems. The established prototype was successfully tested for monitoring of trace gas emission from a CO2 capture pilot plant, demonstrating measurements of nitrosamines at levels far below the lower detection limits of commercial industrial online analyzers. Results from testing of a condensate collector prototype indicate high capture efficiency for analytes of interest, including analytes present in aerosols during operation conditions where the absorber emit mist to the atmosphere. The measurement concept has potential for significantly reducing the costs related to manual gas measurements for critical trace gas components in plant operation. Application of the concept can enable continuous measurements of nitrosamines and other critical trace gas analytes in the emissions to air not currently available in absorption-based CO2 capture processes.