Techno-economic analysis of CO2 capture from a 1.2 million MTPA cement plant using AMP-PZ-MEA blend

Abstract

This research covered the rate-based process simulation (ProMax® 4.0) and techno-economic analysis of carbon dioxide (CO2) capture from a 1.2 million metric tonne per annum cement plant using aqueous 2 kmol/m3 AMP-1 kmol/m3 PZ-2 kmol/m3 MEA blend. The waste gas composition for this study was provided by a cement plant from Quebec, Canada. The effect of amine type, energy penalty, and CO2 capture efficiency (50% to 90%) on the capture costs (US$/tonne CO2 and US$/tonne cement) were investigated. Sensitivity analysis on the impact of CO2 capture plant, carbon tax (US$ 20 to US$ 40 per tonne of CO2), CO2 sales price (US$ 10 to US$ 40 per tonne of CO2), energy penalty and CO2 capture efficiency on the cement price was also investigated. Results revealed that at 90% CO2 capture efficiency, the capture costs of AMP-PZ-MEA (US$77.34/tonne CO2 and US$44.94/tonne cement) is lower than that of MEA (US$93.23/tonne CO2 and US$54.17/tonne cement). Results also revealed that the total equipment cost and capital expenditure (CAPEX) of MEA system (US$ 29.76 million and US$ 147.12 million) higher than that of AMP-PZ-MEA blend (US$ 23.39 million and US$ 127.59 million).Cash flow analysis showed that without adding a CO2 capture unit to a cement plant, carbon tax increased the cement price up to 22.9%. However, a combination of the high carbon tax, high CO2 sales price, low energy penalty, and high capture efficiency increased the cement price up to 1.2% for the MEA system but reduced the cement price up to 5% for the AMP-PZ-MEA system. This comprehensive study shows that a cost-effective and energy-efficient amine blend, energy penalty, CO2 capture efficiency, carbon tax, and CO2 sales prices are all integral towards reducing the cement price while significantly reducing the CO2 emissions.