Selecting the approach for dynamic modelling of CO2 capture in biomass/waste fired CHP plants

Abstract

Integrating CO2 capture with biomass/waste fired combined heat and power (CHP) plants is a promising method to achieve negative emissions. However, the use of versatile biomass/waste and the dynamic operation of CHP plants result in bigger fluctuations in the properties of flue gas (FG), e.g. CO2 concentration (CO2vol%) and flowrates, and the heat that can be used for CO2 capture, when comparing with coal fired power plants. To address such a challenge, dynamic modelling is essential to accurately estimate the amount of captured CO2 and optimize the operation of CO2 capture. This paper compares three dynamic approaches commonly used in literature, namely using the ideal static model (IST) and using dynamic models without control (Dw/oC) and with control (DwC), for MEA based chemical absorption CO2 capture. The performance of approaches is assessed under the variations of key factors, including the flowrate and CO2vol% of FG, and the available heat for CO2 capture. Simulation results show clear differences. For example, when the CO2vol% drops from 15.7 % to 9.7 % (about 38 %) within 4 hours, DwC gives the highest amount of captured CO2, which is 7.3 % and 22.3 % higher than IST and Dw/oC, respectively. It is also found that the time step size has a clear impact on the CO2 capture amount, especially for DwC. Based on the results, suggestions are also provided regarding the selection of dynamic modelling approaches for different purposes of simulations.