1.

Introduction and background of CO2 capture technologies

The largest greenhouse gas is CO2. The emissions of CO2 are having an impact on global
climate change. Global atmospheric CO2 concentrations have risen from pre-industrialization
levels of around 280 parts per million by volume (ppmv) in around 1860 to around 316 ppmv
in 1958 and steadily to around 369 ppmv today (UNEP, 2005). If no action is taken to
overcome the current situation, global CO2 concentration is predicted to rise to over 750
ppmv by 2100.

The single largest source of CO2 emissions is the generation of electricity from fossil fuel
power plants (e.g. coal and natural gas) (Freund, 2003). Fossil fuel fired power plants,
however, play a vital role in satisfying the requirements for electricity. For example, coal-
fired power
plants could be flexibly managed to meet varying needs. That is why effective CO2
emission reduction strategies such as Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) are needed to
combat this trend, with growing concerns about the increasing atmospheric concentration of
anthropogenic greenhouse gases. (Wang et al., 2010)

CCS is a "process consisting of CO2 separation from industrial and energy-related

sources, transport to a storage site and long-term atmospheric isolation" (IPCC, 2005). CCS
is based on this concept and consists of three basic stages:
(a) CO2 separation
(b) Transport
(c) Storage.
Three key CCS approaches are available (IPCC, 2005):
a)post-combustion capture,
b)pre-combustion capture
c)process of oxyfuel

With post-combustion capture, a range of separation technologies may be employed.

These include the following (IPCC, 2005):
(a) Adsorption
(b) Physical absorption
(c) Chemical absorption
(d) Isolation of cryogenics
(e) Membranes

Post-combustion CO2 capture ensures that after the fossil fuel is combusted, CO2 is
extracted. In other terms, at power plants or other large point sources, CO2 is collected from
fire gases. Monoethanolamine, the most widely used solvent, is (MEA).

Fig. 1. Process technologies for post-combustion CO2 capture adapted from (Rao and Rubin,
2002).
The stage of separation (i.e. capture of CO2) is energy intensive and largely
determines the cost of the CCS process as such. It accounts for about 75-80% of the total
CCSS cost (Davison, 2007). That is the reason in the separation phase the engineer have to
focus more to produce cost-effective separation unit. In this report we will focus more on
separation process of ‘Absorption’ and ‘Adsorption’.
I. Adsorption
Adsorption is a physical process which involves the attachment to a solid surface of a
gas or liquid. By increasing the temperature (temperature swing adsorption, TSA) or
reducing vacuum, the adsorbent is regenerated (pressure swing adsorption, PSA).
Activated carbon, alumina, metallic oxides and zeolites are adsorbents that could be
added to CO2 capture (IEA GHG, 1993, Zhao et al., 2007). In large-scale power plant
 flue gas treatment, existing adsorption systems may not be appropriate for use. The
low adsorption ability of most available adsorbents can pose significant difficulties on
this scale. In addition, due to the generally poor selectivity of most available
adsorbents, the flue gas streams to be processed must have high CO2 concentrations.
Zeolites, for example, have a greater affinity for water vapour (IEA, 2004, IEA, 2007,
Zhao et al., 2007).

II. Physical Absorption,

This includes the actual absorption of CO2, based on Henry's law, into a solvent.
Using heat, pressure reduction or both, regeneration can be achieved. Absorption
takes place at partial pressures high in CO2. As such, the main energy needs come
from the pressurisation of flue gases. Therefore, physical absorption is not economical
for flue gas sources with partial CO2 pressures lower than 15 percent vol (Chakravati
et al., 2001, IEA, 2004). Typical solvents include Selexol (polyethylene glycol
dimethyl ether) and Rectisol (methanol) (IEA GHG, 1993).

III. Membrane Absorption

Membranes function as contacting devices between the gas stream and the liquid
solvent as membranes are used in gas absorption. Additional selectivity may or may
not be given by the membrane. These offer some benefits over previous contacting
devices, such as packed columns, as they are more lightweight and are not vulnerable
to flooding, array, channelling or foaming. However, they require that the pressures
on the sides of the liquid and gas be equal to allow CO2 to be transported across the
membrane. Their efficiency of separation depends upon the partial pressure of CO2.
As such, they are ideal for applications with large CO2 concentrations (well over 20
percent vol), such as oxyfuel flue gas streams and IGCC processes. (IEA GHG, 1993,
IPCC, 2005, Favre, 2007).

IV. Chemical Absorption

Chemical absorption requires the reaction of CO2 to a chemical solvent to produce a

weakly bonded intermediate compound that could be regenerated with the application
of the original solvent heat and a CO2 drain (IPCC, 2005). Generally this process of
 separation is higher in selectivity. Furthermore, it was possible to generate a
reasonably pure CO2 stream. These factors make chemical absorption well suited to
industrial flue gases for CO2 capture.

2. The possible industrial process application of your CO2 gas absorption design (should be
based on reference from journal article/patent).

In recent years, as global warming has become a major concern, numerous options for
reducing anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from various stationary sources,
including power and industrial plants, have been explored. In particular, iron and steel plants
account for the global industry's highest CO2 emissions (2.3 GtonCO2/yr), accounting for
7.9% of global CO2 emissions and 31% of industrial CO2 emissions in 2008. (IEA and
UNIDO, 2011). While power plants have received the greatest interest in introducing CO2
reduction technologies, the iron and steel industry has also attracted considerable interest.

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology is one promising choice for reducing
CO2 emissions in the iron and steel industry (IEA and UNIDO, 2011). In order to prevent its
release to the atmosphere, CCS plans to trap CO2 from flue gases and store it in the necessary
strata or sea floor.(Chung, Roh, & Lee, 2018).

In iron and steel plants, the main unit responsible for the emission of CO2 is the blast
furnace (BF). About two thirds of the total CO2 emissions from iron and steel plants are
produced in the form of blast furnace gas (BFG) from BF units (Birat, 2010). The
introduction of CCS technologies to the BF units could, therefore, lead to a substantial
reduction in CO2 emissions.
The main possible application is absorbing the CO2 in ammonia plants. In ammonia
plant the stream which contains carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide goes through reaction
and CO changed to CO2 since high purity CO2 gives high market value it is separeted by
using water as a solvent. Since water carryover is not the problem in downstream side. CO2
is absorbed in absorption tower with the small silica packings and CO2 rich water goes
through stripper. Sometimes high purity CO2 is converted into dry ice for commercial use.
12. Calculation of tower diameter

Information:

kg
1 ¿ ρG=1.6926
m3

kg
2 ¿ ρ¿ L= 993
m3

3) Structured packing of BX 500,

4) Fp ¿ 69 m−1

GL
5¿ =2.2
GG

m2
6 ¿ ν=0.7
s

kg
7) Feed flue gas= 80
h

Change unit :

kg 1 h kg
∴ 80 × =1.333
h 60 s s

Step of calculation :
 GL
a¿ =2.2
GG

b ¿ Pressure drop:

∆ P flood=0.115 F 0.7
p

0.7 ¿ H2 0
∆ P flood=0.115 (2.2) =0.1997
ft height of packing
0.5
GL ρG
c) ( )( )
GG ρL
= ( 2.2 ) (1.6926 /993)0.5 =0.091

From table – Pressure drop correlation for random packing by strigle

At (x-axis) value of 0.091 and at 0.1997 in H 20 pressure per feet of packing, a capacity
parameter of 0.88 is read off the plot.
0.5
ρG
d) 1.1=υ G
[ ( ρ L− ρG ) ] F 0.5
p ν
0.05

0.5
1.6926
1.1=υ G
[ ( 993−1.6926 ) ] ( 2.2 )0.5 ( 0.7 )0.5

m
υ G=21.452
s

e) GG =ρG .υ G

kg m
G G =¿ 1.6926 × 21.452
m 3
s
 kg
¿ 36.31
m2 s

Using 60% of flooding velocity for design.

kg
G G =0.6 ×36.31
m2 s

kg
G G =21.786
m2 s

f) G L=2.2 G G

kg
G L=2.2 ×21.786
m2 s

kg
G L= 47.93 2
m s

g) To calculate pressure drop of 60% flooding,

kg kg
G G= 27.786 2 and
G L= 47.93 2
m s m s

The new capacity parameter is,

∴ 0.6 ×1.1=0.66

By using value of new capacity parameter of 0.66 and flow parameter of 0.091, the new
¿ H2 0
pressure drop is 0.08
ft height of packing

Change unit:

¿ H2O 1 ft ¿ H2 O
∴ 0.08 × =0.2625
ft height of packing 0.3048 m m height of packing

h) The tower cross-sectional area, At

Feed rate
At ¿
GG

kg kg
At =¿1.333 ÷27.786 2
s m s

At =¿0.048 m ¿
2
 π D 2t
i) At¿
4

At × 4
Dt =
√ π

0.048 m2 × 4
∴ D t=
√ π
=0.2472m

References:
1) Chung, W., Roh, K., & Lee, J. H. (2018). International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control
Design and evaluation of CO 2 capture plants for the steelmaking industry by means of
amine scrubbing and membrane separation. International Journal of Greenhouse Gas
Control, 74(May), 259–270. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijggc.2018.05.009
2) Wang, M., Lawal, A., Stephenson, P., Sidders, J., Ramshaw, C., Hill, W., … Sn, S. (2010).
Chemical Engineering Research and Design Post-combustion CO 2 capture with
chemical absorption : A state-of-the-art review. Chemical Engineering Research and
Design, 89(9), 1609–1624. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cherd.2010.11.005
3) https://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/ja01865a009
4) https://theengineeringmindset.com/properties-of-carbon-dioxide-at-atmospheric-pressure/