Recent Developments on Flue Gas CO2 Recovery Technology

Abstract

The Kansai Electric Power Co. (KEPCO) and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) have been carrying out joint work on research and development of new technology for CO2 recovery from power plant boiler flue gas and gas turbine exhaust gas. From the results of this research and development work, an energy efficient solvent was developed and commercialized. The first commercial plant using this solvent has been operated since October 1999 in Malaysia. This chapter describes the recent research and development activities since the GHGT-5 disclosure. The Kansai Electric Power Co. Inc. and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. have been making continuous efforts to improve flue gas CO2 recovery technology. The recent improvements have been focused on the reduction of the initial costs and operation costs. The recent main research and development items are increase of flue gas velocity in the CO2 Absorber, reduction of the KP-1 packing weight, and reduction of amine consumption. These items have been put to the test in the Nanko Power Station pilot plant and their performances have been confirmed. In addition to the above, development on new energy efficient solvents has been carried out. A new bench scale testing facility enabled very accurate measurement of the CO2 recovery energy consumption to be made; this was the same as that of the pilot plant and was used for the evaluation of new solvents.