Results from trialling aqueous NH 3 based post-combustion capture in a pilot plant at Munmorah power station: Absorption

Abstract

Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) and Delta Electricity have developed, commissioned and operated an A$7 million aqueous NH 3 based post-combustion capture (PCC) pilot plant at the Munmorah black coal fired power station in Australia. The results from the pilot plant trials will be used to address the gap in know-how on application of aqueous NH 3 for post-combustion capture of CO 2 and other pollutants in the flue gas and explore the potential of the NH 3 process for application in the Australia power sector. This paper is one of a series of publications to report and discuss the experimental results obtained from the pilot plant trials and primarily focuses on the absorption section. The pilot plant trials have confirmed the technical feasibility of the NH 3 based capture process. CO 2 removal efficiency of more than 85% can be achieved even with low NH 3 content of up to 6 wt%. The NH 3 process is effective for SO 2 but not for NO in the flue gas. More than 95% of SO 2 in the flue gas is removed in the pre-treatment column using NH 3. The mass transfer coefficients for CO 2 in the absorber as functions of CO 2 loading and NH 3 concentration have been obtained based on pilot plant data.