Design of a CO2 Removal Section Treating Very High Flue Gas Flowrates

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is a technology that can be used to significantly reduce the gradual global increase in Earth warming. Several methods are available, with absorption by amine solvents being the most feasible and technologically mature. One possible successful application of this process is to the post-combustion removal of carbon dioxide from flue gas from power plants before its emission to the atmosphere. The design and optimization of this plant in order to minimize the power consumptions and the overall costs is of primary importance, in particular when dealing with very high gas flowrates to be treated. This paper aims at determining the best scheme of CO2 removal plant to be installed in a facility for power production in Italy which allows the lowest power and economic losses. Three different configurations with columns provided with trayed or packed internals have been considered and the analysis with a comparison of the schemes has been carried out. The assessment of the technical performance of the plant has been performed by employing a rigorous rate-based model in ASPEN Plus®, and the selection of the scheme which minimizes the power losses has been made by comparison of the obtained results.