Post-Combustion CO2 Capture Using Chemical Absorption: Minimizing Energy Requirement

Capture and storage from fossil fuel fired power plants is drawing increasing interest as a potential method for the control of greenhouse gas emissions. An optimization and technical parameter study for a CO2 capture process of the flue gas of a commercial gas power plant, based on absorption/desorption process with MEA solutions, using HYSYS with the Amine Property Package fluid package, has been performed. The optimization has aimed to reduce the energy requirement for solvent regeneration, by investigating the effects of circulation rate, cross-flow heat exchanger minimum approach, desorber operating pressure and the absorber diameter. In addition, an economic evaluation including investment cost has been performed for the first three parameters.Major energy savings can be realized by optimizing the desorber pressure and the solvent circulation rate. The circulation rate will have a clearly defined optimal point, while for the desorber pressure the temperature will be a limiting factor. A too high temperature may lead to amine degradation and corrosion problems. The cross-flow heat exchanger minimum temperature approach will not affect the energy consumption significantly. An optimum absorber column diameter was not found, but the column should be designed with a diameter large enough to prevent flooding through the column. A too large diameter will not favour the energy consumption very much, and other factors will be more decisive when the column diameter is chosen