CO2-flue gas separation

2011-04-01T15:09:00.001-07:00

Coal power plants play a vital role in modern world electricity generation. Electricity generation from the coal-fired power plants is the largest single source CO₂ emission.

The total electricity generation according to the source is given in the following figure 1. The coal is used for around 41% electricity generation.

Figure 1: Electrical energy generation by different sources

There are six main pollutant gases cause for climate change, CO₂, CH₄, N₂O, SF₆, CFC’s and HFC’s. The global warming potential for those gases is given in the table 1. However, CO₂ has lowest global warming potential. It has highest climate change potential due to the largest emission compare to others. Thus, reduction of CO₂ is very important for create a better environment.

Technologies available or being considered for CO₂ capture are:

In order to carry on power generation by fossil fuel, CCS technologies are required to reduce the environmental impact by CO₂ emissions. The post combustion CO₂ capture via chemical absorption is the most effective and widely used technology in the CO₂ recovery process.

Research papers

1. Comparison of Temperature profiles in CO₂ removal process with Aspen Plus and MATLAB

Udara S.P.R. Arachchige, Sanoja A. Jayarathna, Morten C. Melaaen

(Published in florida, USA-2011 june)

Abstract

Carbon dioxide (CO₂) has the highest climate change potential due to the largest emission compared to the other sources. Thus, reduction of CO₂ is very important for creating a better environment. Out of several cleaning methods, post combustion CO₂ removal by chemical absorption technology is the closest to commercialization. This paper presents a simulation study of the chemical absorption process with the MEA system as the solvent. Data found in literature (Texas case 32 and case 47) are compared with the simulation results. Two models are developed and implemented in Aspen Plus and MATLAB with the same operating conditions and parameters to achieve the given efficiencies as in the Texas pilot plant study. The rate based Electrolyte NRTL model is used in the Aspen Plus model with 32.5w/w % MEA solution and 0.28 as lean CO₂ loading. The Kent-Eisenberg model is selected for the development of the MATLAB model, and the same MEA system is used. The Kent-Eisenberg is one of the simplest and reliable methods for CO₂ removal modeling. The simulation results from the Aspen Plus and MATLAB models with the same operating conditions are compared with the temperature profiles. Both models follow similar patterns for the temperature profiles and those approximately equal with the Texas plant data. However, the Aspen Plus model predictions of the temperature seem to be closer compared to that of the MATLAB model.

CO2 capture

CO2-flue gas separation