Process Design and Integration of Various Carbon Capture Approaches into the Energy Sector and Other Energy-intensive Industrial Applications

Abstract

Developing efficient and economic viable energy conversion systems for a transition to a low carbon economy represents a key issue of the modern society. To reduce the anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, innovative solutions have to be developed and deployed into energy sector as well as other energy-intensive industrial applications (e.g. petrochemistry, cement, metallurgy). Along this line, Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage (CCUS) technologies are of great significance in the quest for reducing global greenhouse gas emissions. The main issues of CCUS technologies are the integration into the overall process as well as energy and cost penalties for CO2 capture. This paper evaluates using CAPE design and integration tools, the potential carbon capture approaches to be successfully introduced into various key industrial applications with high CO2 emissions (e.g. heat and power production, chemicals, iron & steel, etc.). The various plant designs were modelled and simulated using process flow modelling software, the mass and energy balances being used to assess the overall performance indicators. For energy integration analysis, the pinch method was used to evaluate the best heat and power integration options of available heat generated in the process. As the results suggest, the innovative carbon capture options based on gas-solid adsorption systems (chemical / calcium looping) have significant techno-economic advantages compared to other more technologically and commercially mature carbon capture options (e.g. gas-liquid absorption) e.g. the higher energy efficiency and carbon capture rate, reduced costs, lower plant complexity and integration issues.