Post-combustion CO2 Capture from Natural Gas Combined Cycles by Solvent Supported Membranes

AbstractAmong the CO2 separation technologies, CO2 membranes are currently receiving an increasing interest, largely thanks to the development of solvents such as ionic liquids and deep eutectic solvents, which are suitable for use in solvent supported membrane systems. The aim of this work is to perform a techno-economic analysis of a natural gas-fired combined cycle power plant integrating CO2 membranes. Such a configuration is based on a two-membrane system, the first one separating the CO2 for final sequestration, the second one used to generate a selective CO2-rich flue gas recycle. The techno-economic assessment uses three modelling tools: (i) process modelling of the complete power plant, performed with the in-house GS code and Aspen Plus, (ii) modelling of the membrane, performed with a finite difference method implemented in Matlab and (iii) economic modelling by a bottom-up approach. The final material balances show that using a moderate pressurization of the combined cycle flue gas results in the lowest energy loss and lowest capture cost