Current status and future development of solvent-based carbon capture

Abstract

Solvent-based carbon capture is the most commercially-ready technology for economically and sustainably reaching carbon emission reduction targets in the power sector. Globally, the technology has been deployed to deal with flue gases from large scale power plants and different carbon-intensive industries. The success of the technology is due to significant R&D activities on the process development and decades of industrial experience on acid gas removal processes from gaseous mixtures. In this paper, current status of PCC based on chemical absorption-commercial deployment and demonstration projects, analysis of different solvents and process configurations-is reviewed. Although some successes have been recorded in developing this technology, its commercialization has been generally slow as evidenced in the cancellation of high profile projects across the world. This is partly due to the huge cost burden of the technology and unpredictable government policies. Different research directions, namely new process development involving process intensification, new solvent development and a combination of both, are discussed in this paper as possible pathways for reducing the huge cost of the technology.

Study of intercooling for rotating packed bed absorbers in intensified solvent-based CO2 capture process

“…The results were corroborated in later studies by Kvamsdal and Rochelle [22] and Biliyok et al [23]. Following the outcome of these investigations, current commercial PCC designs include an absorber intercooler [24] which are typically shell and tube heat exchanger designs. 6 The short version of the paper was presented at ICAE2017, Aug 21-24, Cardiff, UK.…”

“…The mass transfer resistance directly affects absorption rate as can be seen from Eqn 8 and how it changes with respect to temperature can give insight about the impact of temperature 24 The short version of the paper was presented at ICAE2017, Aug 21-24, Cardiff, UK. This paper is a substantial extension of the short version of the conference paper.…”

“…It is considered to be vital for economically and sustainably reaching long-term mitigation targets [2,3]. The PCC process is the most matured and commercially ready approach for deploying CCS/CCU [4][5]. However, a major drawback of the PCC process is that PBs used as absorbers and strippers in the process are large, and this contributes significantly to plant footprint, capital, and operating costs [7].…”

Molten ionic oxides for CO2 capture at medium to high temperatures

“…have been considered as promising absorbents, 6,7 and utilized in most of the current or planned CO 2 capture systems at industrial facilities. 8,9 Amine scrubbing processes, however, face several technological drawbacks due to their high energy demands, degradation of the amines, and equipment corrosion. 3,10,11 As an alternative, various new methods operating at medium to high temperatures (T > 200 C) have recently attracted attention for both pre-combustion and post-combustion processes.…”

Process analysis and economic evaluation of mixed aqueous ionic liquid and monoethanolamine (MEA) solvent for CO2 capture from a coke oven plant

“…Flue gas from an industrial process (or fossil fuel‐fired power plant) is cooled to about 40 °C before entering the absorber. In the absorber, CO 2 in the flue gas is removed mainly by chemical reactions with a countercurrent stream of solvent to form a weakly bonded compound . The treated gas is then water washed (to recover entrained solvents) before it is released into the atmosphere.…”