1.

2 Typical carbon dioxide (CO2) capture process from post-combustion flue gas

A typical post-combustion gas treating facility mainly consists of two units, an absorber and a stripper. The process starts when a post-combustion flue gas enters the absorber through the bottom while a solvent, mostly amines, flows downward from the upper section and flows counter current with the flue gas. Carbon dioxide (CO2) that is carried within the flue gas then has a chance to react with the amine to form a reversible compound such as carbamate (if it is a primary or secondary amine). In the absorber, carbon dioxide is removed from sour gas or acid gas by reacting with the amine, leaving an exhaust gas that carries mainly nitrogen (N2) and oxygen (O2) or so called sweet gas. The carbon dioxide-rich solution leaves the bottom of the absorber and enters the stripper unit where heat is applied to the solution, usually from a steam reboiler, in order to reverse the chemical equilibrium and liberate the carbon dioxide. Then, the released carbon dioxide flows upward, passes through a condenser, and exits the process. The remaining amine solution is then fed through an exchanger in order to remove some of the heat before it re-enters the absorber as a recycled stream. The exchanger behaves as heatintegrated equipment by using the heat carried by the amine leaving the stripper as a heat source to pre-heat the rich amine solution. A process diagram of a typical carbon dioxide capture unit is presented in Figure 1.2 (Mofarahi et al., 2008).