CO2 Capture

From Power Plant Flue Gas

- A Simulation case study in Hysis Platform

Subhasish Mitra
M.Tech
Department of Chemical Engineering
IIT Kanpur
Motivation:

Global warming triggers environmental concern over reduction

of greenhouse gas emissions from industrial sources.

CO2 is major contributor to the global warming phenomenon

due its abundance comparing to other green house gases.

Huge quantity of CO2 in flue gases released from power plants

can be separated and utilized for various industrial uses.

Gas absorption process with amine based chemical reaction is

recognized as most cost effective solution with proven track
records.
Application of CO2:

Carbonated soft drinks & soda water, Leavening agents e.g.
Baker’s yeast, Baking powder used in dough.

Used in pneumatic system for portable pressure tools. Good

fire extinguisher.

Supercritical CO2 is a good industrial solvent, e.g. extraction of

lipophilic organic compounds, extraction of caffeine from coffee
etc.

In chemical industry for production of Urea, carbonates & bi-

carbonates and sodium salicylate.

Liquid CO2 as refrigerant (R774).

Oil recovery & coal bed methane recovery.

Combined power cycle:

Rankine cycle

Brayton cycle

Combined Power Cycle Effciency:

ήcc= ή GT + ή ST - (ή GT )(ή ST )
Amine plant – simplified PFD:
Amine package introduction:

•Two different amine packages are available in Hysis – Amine

Package, DBR Amine Package.

•Based on extensive experimental data on equilibrium acid gas

(CO2, H2S, COS, CS2) solubility and kinetic parameters for the aq.
alkanolamine solutions.

•Important!
The package works only under specified set of operating
conditions e.g. amine conc., temperature & acid gas partial
pressure.
 Amine package operating conditions:

Alkanolamine Amine Acid gas Temp (F)

conc.(wt%) partial pr
(psia)
MEA 0 – 30 1e-4 – 300 77 – 260

DEA,TEA, 0 – 30 1e-4 – 300 77 – 260

MDEA
DGA 50 – 70 1e-4 – 300 77 – 260
DISoA 0 – 40 1e-4 – 300 77 – 260

Data not correlated for H2S and CO2 loadings > 1.0 mole acid gas/mole
amine
Amine package details:

Methods of calculation:

• Liquid: VLE (vapor liquid equilibrium) : Kent Eisenberg & Li Mather

• Vapor: VLE (vapor liquid equilibrium) = Peng Robinson

• Enthalpy/Entropy = Curve Fit

Underlying chemistry:
Electrochemical reactions
occur in the aq solution.
 Power plant process simulation diagram:

HP Steam turbine LP Steam turbine

Steam condenser

Steam boiler

Gas Turbine Block

Flue gas to CO2
absorption unit
 CO2 capture plant process simulation diagram:

Amine regen tower

Amine absorption tower

 Simulation figures:
Power plant capacity 400 MW

Available data: Natural gas flow 12480 m3/hr

Fuel air ratio 2.22
Compressor duty 154.6 MW
High Pr steam 120 bar
HP steam turbine capacity 110.6 MW
Low Pr steam 4 bar
LP steam turbine capacity 29.96 MW
Condensate pump capacity 2.832 MW
Heat input in boiler 445.2 MW
Rankine cycle efficiency 0.309
Compressor in Compressor out
cp/cv 1.401 1.352
kavg 1.3765
pr increase ratio (rp) 30
Brayton cycle efficiency 0.606 1-(1/rp )^(k-1)/k
efficiency (combined power cycle) 0.728
Simulation figures (Contd):
Total flue gas flow rate 48810 kmol/hr
Flue gas cooler duty 89.57 MW
Flue gas blower duty 29.37 MW
Blower after cooler duty 45.87 MW
Feed rate to amine absorption column 44010 kmol/hr
CO2 molar flow into absorption column 2358.6 kmol/hr
CO2 molar flow from absorption column 67.12 kmol/hr
% removal of CO2 97.15
Absorption column operating pr 200 kpa
Total lean MEA flow into absorption column 79220 kmol/hr
Fresh make up lean MEA 292.8 kmol/hr
Rich amine pump duty 0.04233 MW
Regenerator pre-heater duty 80.00 MW
Regenerator column reboiler duty 110.5 MW
lean amine cooler duty 81.42 MW
lean amine pump duty 0.06197 MW
Total energy invested in the absorption unit 139.97 MW

Energy required per mole of CO2 scrubbed 5.00 MJ/kg

Absorption parameters:
Pressure effect on % reduction of CO2
• CO2 absorption is enhanced as
97.400
higher pressure however the
% reduction of C O2

97.200
97.000
96.800 advantage saturates at 300 kpa
96.600
96.400 (not shown)
96.200
96.000
100.000 120.000 140.000 160.000 180.000 200.000 220.000
- Circulation rate fixed at 79220
Pressure (kpa) kmol/hr

Pressure effect on % reduction of CO2

• CO2 absorption is enhanced
99.000 with amine circulation rate
% re duc tion of C O2

98.500
however the advantage
98.000
diminishes at higher flow rate
97.500

97.000 -pressure kept constant at 200 kpa

100 20100 40100 60100 80100 100100 120100
Amine circulation rate (kmol/hr)
Tower tray sizing details:
Absorption tower tray internals Valve Regenerator tower tray internals Valve
Section Diameter [m] 9.60 Section Diameter [m] 5.33
Max Flooding [%] 81.21 Max Flooding [%] 67.63
X-Sectional Area [m2] 72.40 X-Sectional Area [m2] 22.35
Section Height [m] 6.10 Section Height [m] 4.57
Section DeltaP [kPa] 11.53 Section DeltaP [kPa] 5.92
Number of Flow Paths 5.00 Number of Flow Paths 5.00
Flow Length [mm] 1739.90 Flow Length [mm] 901.70
Flow Width [mm] 7881.10 Flow Width [mm] 4465.13
Max DC Backup [%] 38.31 Max DC Backup [%] 43.06
Max Weir Load [m3/h-m] 47.17 Max Weir Load [m3/h-m] 89.52
Max DP/Tray [kPa] 1.32 Max DP/Tray [kPa] 1.30
Tray Spacing [mm] 609.60 Tray Spacing [mm] 762.00
Total Weir Length [mm] 39150.16 Total Weir Length [mm] 22219.25
Weir Height [mm] 50.80 Weir Height [mm] 100.00
Active Area [m2] 68.56 Active Area [m2] 20.13
DC Clearance [mm] 38.10 DC Clearance [mm] 90.00
DC Area [m2] 1.92 DC Area [m2] 1.11
Side Weir Length [m] 3.43 Side Weir Length [m] 2.38
Hole Area [m2] 10.49 Hole Area [m2] 3.08
Estimated # of Holes/Valves 8858.66 Estimated # of Holes/Valves 2601.43
Simulation - Probable problems & solutions:

Probable problems Possible solutions

Increase recycle gradually with the help of a

Convergence with recycle loop
TEE

Total feed rate to absorption column changes as Keep a ratio set point of total amine feed into
recycle increases tower with feed flue gas

CO2 loading in amine crosses package limit (all

Decrease amine conc. in fresh make up
streams’ color turn yellow)

Change column bottom pressure to match

Regenerator pressure profile
column bottom temperature

Increase amine circulation rate

Presence of vapor at rich amine pump inlet
Use spec for top temperature and recycle
Stripper column convergence ratio

Still Searching!
Very large %equilibrium approach for acid gas
Wind up:

Combined power plant cycle gives more efficiency than the
individual constituent cycle.

Setting up a CO2 capture plant sounds beneficial from both

environment as well as economic point of view (pending
techno-economic analysis)

Qualitatively the benefit is more tangible if energy

consumed/mole of CO2 absorbed is further reduced (5MJ/kg as
per present simulation) – thrust on selecting various amines to
reduce circulation rate.

Regenerator tower energy requirement can be met by the HP

ST exhaust obtained from power plant (discarding option of
producing power from LP ST) which needs to be substantiated
by the techno-economic analysis.
 Thanks
for
your attention!