This work proposes an optimization approach for capturing carbon dioxide from different industrial facilities to yield an algae-based biorefinery. The proposed approach is based on a distributed system to account for the economies of scale and includes site selection for the processing facilities. Additionally, the model considers optimization for the technologies used in the process stages and different technologies to yield several products. The algae oil that is obtained from each facility can be sent to processing hubs located in the same plant and/or to a central processing unit. The objective function is to minimize the total annual cost for the treatment of flue gases, including the capital and operating costs for the different processing stages and the overall transportation costs associated with the system minus the sales of products plus the tax credit for reducing CO 2 emissions. The results show several economic benefits.

Mass-transfer data at different feed and steam rates, using structured and random packings, have been collected to develop a model for the design or analysis of packed columns for stripping of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from water. The steam-stripping experiments were conducted in a stainless steel column of 0.245-m internal diameter, with 2.8 m of packed section. The packings used were Sulzer BX gauze structured packing, Mellapak 250Y structured packing, 1-in. Flexirings, and 1-in. Fleximax random packing. The VOCs were chloroform (CH3Cl) and toluene (C7H8). The model considers the simultaneous occurrence of mass transfer and hydraulic phenomena with the same expressions for liquid and vapor mass-transfer coefficients and the same expression for effective interfacial area with one constant for each packing. The average deviation for the measured and calculated volumetric mass-transfer coefficient and effective height of packing is 0.29 and 0.23, respectively.

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