Post-combustion CO2 capture with monoethanolamine in a combined-cycle power plant: exergetic, economic and environmental assessment

In this study, a post-combustion CO2 capture technology (chemical absorption with monoethanolamine) has been evaluated with two different possible energy requirements. A plant incorporating this technology has been compared with a reference power plant of similar configuration that does not include CO2 capture. The plants have been analyzed using conventional exergetic, exergoeconomic and exergoenvironmental analyses. In general, CO2 capture is a costly process, since it either involves expensive equipment that increases the overall investment cost of the facility or energy-demanding processes that decrease the efficiency, in turn increasing the fuel consumption (i.e. the fuel costs) of a plant. Moreover, the environmental analysis shows that high efficiency reductions result in significant environmental penalties. Thus, with present data, the environmental viability of post-combustion CO2 capture with chemical absorption using monoethanolamine is questionable, especially when the associated cost expenditure of the technology is also consideredJRC.J.5-Sustainable Production and Consumptio