Integrating Solar Thermal Energy for Post-Combustion CO2 Capture

  • Lt. Col. Prabhat K. Prasad, Atul Pandey, Dr. Ekta Pandey, Dr. Vinod Krishna Sethi

Abstract

By the post-combustion carbon capture process, more than 90% of the CO2 can be removed from the point source (power plant) by chemical absorption using solvents like Amines. The method of chemical absorption, stripping, desorption, and compression of CO2 from flue gases are energy-intensive; they shall reduce the electrical output of the power plant by approximately 30%. We can reduce the energy penalty if we can integrate solar thermal energy in the generation of steam for desorption of CO2 as solar energy has the potential to meet the thermal demand of stripper reboiler in the power plant's solvent-based post-combustion CO2 Capture. By carrying out this study on a high-temperature solar thermal system, we would be able to review the solar thermal technologies to provide energy to a CO2 capture system. The Parabolic trough collectors and central receivers are high-temperature solar thermal systems to produce superheated steam for the CO2 Capture system. In this paper, we shall discuss the high temperature solar thermal systems and the low temperature solar thermal systems. The low temperature solar thermal systems can integrate better with solvent stripping types of equipment. Since it's low-temperature produced, it can reduce the thermal degradation of MEA solvent as stripping temperatures are limited to about 120 degrees Celsius (℃), as the typical designs use saturated steam at temperatures slightly above 120 ℃, for solvent stripping. The use of a high-temperature solar thermal system for direct electricity generation is more efficient than utilizing solar energy, as compensation for power lost in capturing CO2 in a PCC power plant. The results show that the energy requirement of innovative CCS technologies from the flue gas range from 100–200 kJ/mole of CO2. The operation of a power plant incorporated with solar assisted post-combustion CO2 Capture (SACC) is primarily affected by the local environmental conditions, such as sunlight, visible light duration, the existing temperature, the type of solar thermal device and recovery ratio of CO2.

Published
2021-09-21
How to Cite
Lt. Col. Prabhat K. Prasad, Atul Pandey, Dr. Ekta Pandey, Dr. Vinod Krishna Sethi. (2021). Integrating Solar Thermal Energy for Post-Combustion CO2 Capture. Design Engineering, 13295 - 13310. Retrieved from http://www.thedesignengineering.com/index.php/DE/article/view/4580
Section
Articles