Optimization of greenhouse gases capture processes from power plants using diglycolamine

CARLOS D. FISCHER; MIGUEL C. MUSSATI; TATIANA MOROSUK; SERGIO F. MUSSATI

Portland, Estados Unidos

Congreso; ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress & Exposition (IMECE 2024); 2024

The American Society of Mechanical Engineers

Carbon capture technologies have the potential to allow the continued use of fossil fuel while mitigating CO2 emissions. The most widely used CO2 capture technology for chemical and natural gas industries is the chemical absorption process using amines. The CO2 partial pressures in the flue gas after combustion is low, typically 3–15 kPa. Thus, chemical absorption is the most likely used technology for post-combustion capture because chemical solvents are less dependent on partial pressure. Modeling and simulation of CO2 capture using amine solutions is a research area which have emerged as vital tools for studying and analyzing these processes in detail. Reliable process models are essential for developing efficient methods to separate CO2 from flue gases. There are several studies addressing the CO2 capture with several types of amines (monoethanolamine MEA, metildietanolamine MDEA, dietanolamine DEA, MDEA-MEA, MDEA-DEA). However, the modeling of CO2 capture with DGA solution has been scarcely studied by researchers.This study focuses on the simulation and optimization of the CO2 capture process using Diglycolamine (DGA) considering two different models: the equilibrium-stage model and the rate-based model. The complete mathematical model for the CO2 capture process encompasses an absorber, a stripper, cross heat exchangers, and pumps. The main objectives of the current work are: • To compare the accuracy of results obtained with two mathematical models: the equilibrium-stage model and the rate-based model, for CO2 capture using DGA solution.• To investigate the influence of crucial process parameters such as CO2 partial pressure, CO2 loading of the solution, solution flow rate, solution concentration, and solution temperature on the CO2 removal efficiency. This includes considering different types of packing materials for the absorber and regeneration columns.The proposed models will be validated through Aspen Plus simulations and experimental data reported for a pilot plant CO2 capture process. To the best of authors´ knowledge, no studies addressing an in-depth analysis considering the aforementioned points have been found in the literature. The findings from this study will be valuable for future research aiming to scale up the complete DGA absorption process.