Optimizing post-combustion carbon capture: A comprehensive 3E analyses of energy, exergy, and exergoeconomic aspects with solar integration

Abstract

The combination of capturing CO2 from power plants and storing it has the potential to mitigate the effects of fossil fuel usage on the climate. The reduction of CO2 emissions through CCS is recognized as a viable solution, but the significant challenge lies in the need to reduce costs and energy consumption in its development. A method that can be utilized to improve the energy efficiency of capture is the implementation of exergy-based analysis, which includes both exergetic and exergoeconomic analyses. This study aims to create an exergy-based assessment of a post-combustion CO2 capture with DGA 50 wt% solvent, using ASPEN HYSYS Version 11 for a Natural Gas-fired power plant with a capture rate of 90 %. The results show that through meticulous modifications in the system's configuration, including LVC, SSF, RVC, RSR, ICA, and their combinations, the reboiler's energy consumption was significantly reduced from 11.1 GJ/Ton CO2 to 3.27 GJ/Ton CO2, and the utility consumption was reduced by approximately 6,500$/h. Additionally, we compared various configurations in terms of exergy and exergoeconomic. The plant exergy efficiency improved from 44.9 % in the standard configuration to 68.3 % for the LVC + Solar configuration. Additionally, the exergoeconomic factor improved from 3.1 % to 3.8 %.