Post-combustion Carbon Capture Technology Research Articles

Validation, Operation and Smart Full-scale Design of an Efficient Reclaiming System for Carbon Capture Solvents Based on Amino Acid Salt

This paper describes the development of an efficient reclaiming system for post combustion carbon capture technology. Impurities are emerging from the combustion of common fossil fuels (oil, coal or natural gas) such as SOx and NOx. They react with the CO2 capture solvent by forming complexes, which will accumulate in the aqueous solvent solution and reduce its performance. Consequently they must be removed through a reclaiming system. In contrast to conventional thermal based reclaiming systems the reclaiming system described in this paper features a selective process based on crystallization to maximize solvent recycling and minimize residue disposal, hence minimizing operating costs. On the one hand it converts part of the component formed by SOx-absorption into a commercially reusable product (whilst simultaneously unblocking and recovering the solvent) and on the other hand it removes the formed heat stable salts and other impurities from the liquid solvent with a high efficiency. Experience has been gathered from pilot operation and the process has been validated and optimized. With this, a continuous full-scale design has been developed.

Ferrybridge CCPilot100+ Operating Experience and Final Test Results

Abstract The Doosan Babcock, SSE and Vattenfall consortium successfully completed the two year test programme on the CCPilot100+ post combustion carbon capture (PCC) pilot plant at SSE's Ferrybridge Power Station in December 2013. The 100 tonne CO 2 /day (15MW t , 5MW e equivalent) CCPilot100+ PCC pilot plant, using Doosan Babcock's PCC technology, was the first of its size to be integrated into a live power plant in the UK. It was designed to demonstrate scale-up of the PCC process and provides a stepping stone from process characterisation on Doosan Babcock's 1 tonne CO 2 /day (160kWt) Emissions Reduction Test Facility (ERTF) to commercial-scale (150MWe plus) plant. Benchmark performance on 30% w/w monoethanolamine (MEA) solvent was first established, followed by extensive parametric and long-term performance testing using the RS-2 TM solvent. The paper presents an overview of the CCPilot100+. It describes the test programme, measurements made, test results, operating experience gained and some of the key lessons learned.

Potential for solar-assisted post-combustion carbon capture in Australia

A techno-economic analysis has been performed for a coal-fired power plant retrofitted with Solvent-based Post-combustion Carbon Capture (PCC) technology which is partially supplied with thermal energy by solar thermal collectors. The plant is compared with a generic PCC plant where all the thermal energy is provided by steam bled from the steam cycle. The individual merits of a suite of solar collector technologies which includes Flat Plate Collectors (FPCs), Compound Parabolic Collectors (CPCs), Linear Fresnel Collectors (LFCs), Evacuated Tube Collectors (ETCs) and Parabolic Trough Collectors (PTCs) to supply thermal energy for the PCC plant have been studied. The plant has been simulated for three different locations in Australia: Sydney, Townsville and Melbourne. The overall system consists of three subsystems: power plant, PCC plant and solar collector field. A base case scenario is studied in which there is no heat integration between the three subsystems and is compared to a system with heat integration. Additionally incentives such as Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs), carbon tax/credits and government subsidies have been added to the economic model and a sensitivity analysis performed for each scenario of incentives for all five solar collector technologies at the three locations. The ETC case performs best amongst solar collectors when the three subsystems have heat integration while PTCs perform best in the case with no heat integration. The best location for the solar-assisted PCC (SPCC) plant is Townsville. It was found that the addition of the solar field reduces the carbon tax in order to make carbon capture and storage viable in comparison with a conventional non-capturing coal fired plant.

High‐Throughput Analytical Model to Evaluate Materials for Temperature Swing Adsorption Processes

In order for any material to be considered in a post-combustion carbon capture technology, it must have high working capacities of CO₂ from flue gas and be regenerable using as little energy as possible. Shown here is an easy to use method to calculate both working capacities and regeneration energies and thereby predict optimal desorption conditions for any material.

High Throughput Screening of CO2 Solubility in Aqueous Monoamine Solutions

Post-combustion Carbon Capture and Storage technology (CCS) is viewed as an efficient solution to reduce CO(2) emissions of coal-fired power stations. In CCS, an aqueous amine solution is commonly used as a solvent to selectively capture CO(2) from the flue gas. However, this process generates additional costs, mostly from the reboiler heat duty required to release the carbon dioxide from the loaded solvent solution. In this work, we present thermodynamic results of CO(2) solubility in aqueous amine solutions from a 6-reactor High Throughput Screening (HTS) experimental device. This device is fully automated and designed to perform sequential injections of CO(2) within stirred-cell reactors containing the solvent solutions. The gas pressure within each reactor is monitored as a function of time, and the resulting transient pressure curves are transformed into CO(2) absorption isotherms. Solubility measurements are first performed on monoethanolamine, diethanolamine, and methyldiethanolamine aqueous solutions at T = 313.15 K. Experimental results are compared with existing data in the literature to validate the HTS device. In addition, a comprehensive thermodynamic model is used to represent CO(2) solubility variations in different classes of amine structures upon a wide range of thermodynamic conditions. This model is used to fit the experimental data and to calculate the cyclic capacity, which is a key parameter for CO(2) process design. Solubility measurements are then performed on a set of 50 monoamines and cyclic capacities are extracted using the thermodynamic model, to asses the potential of these molecules for CO(2) capture.

Assessment of postcombustion carbon capture technologies for power generation

A significant proportion of power generation stems from coal-combustion processes and accordingly represents one of the largest point sources of CO2 emissions worldwide. Coal power plants are major assets with large infrastructure and engineering units and an operating life span of up to 50 years. Hence, any process design modification to reduce greenhouse gas emissions may require significant investment. One of the best options to utilize existing infrastructure is to retrofit the power station fleet by adding a separation process to the flue gas, a practice known as postcombustion capture (PCC). This review examines the recent PCC development and provides a summary and assessment of the state of play in this area and its potential applicability to the power generation industry. The major players including the various institutes, government, and industry consortia are identified along with flue gas PCC demonstration scale plants. Of the PCC technologies reviewed, amine-based absorption is preeminent, being both the most mature and able to be adapted immediately, to the appropriate scale, for power station flue gas with minimal technical risk. Indeed, current commercial applications serve niches in the merchant CO2 market, while a substantial number of smaller scale test facilities are reported in the literature with actual CO2 capture motivated demonstrations now commencing. Hybrid membrane/absorption systems, also known as membrane contactors, offer the potential for the lowest energy requirements, possibly 10% of current direct scrubbers but are at an early stage of development. Other methods being actively pursued as R&D projects include solid absorbents, solid adsorbents, gas membrane separators, and cryogenic separation. The variety and different maturities of these competing technologies make technical comparison largely subjective, but useful insights could be gained through the development and application of econometric techniques such as ‘real options’ within this context. Despite these limitations, it is clear from this review that amine scrubbing is likely to be adapted first into the existing power station fleet, while less mature technologies will grow and become integrated with the development of future power stations.

Trade-off in emissions of acid gas pollutants and of carbon dioxide in fossil fuel power plants with carbon capture

This paper investigates the impact of capture of carbon dioxide (CO 2) from fossil fuel power plants on the emissions of nitrogen oxides (NO X ) and sulphur oxides (SO X ), which are acid gas pollutants. This was done by estimating the emissions of these chemical compounds from natural gas combined cycle and pulverized coal plants, equipped with post-combustion carbon capture technology for the removal of CO 2 from their flue gases, and comparing them with the emissions of similar plants without CO 2 capture. The capture of CO 2 is not likely to increase the emissions of acid gas pollutants from individual power plants; on the contrary, some NO X and SO X will also be removed during the capture of CO 2. The large-scale implementation of carbon capture is however likely to increase the emission levels of NO X from the power sector due to the reduced efficiency of power plants equipped with capture technologies. Furthermore, SO X emissions from coal plants should be decreased to avoid significant losses of the chemicals that are used to capture CO 2. The increase in the quantity of NO X emissions will be however low, estimated at 5% for the natural gas power plant park and 24% for the coal plants, while the emissions of SO X from coal fired plants will be reduced by as much as 99% when at least 80% of the CO 2 generated will be captured.