Exergy and economic analysis of the trade-off for design of post-combustion CO2 capture plant by chemical absorption with MEA

Alisson Aparecido Vitoriano Julio, Rafael Castro-Amoedo, François Maréchal, Aldemar Martínez González and José Carlos Escobar Palacio

Energy, 2023, vol. 280, issue C

Abstract: CO2 abatement strategies are crucial in any industrial cluster. In post-combustion capture solutions, the high-energy consumption and the cost associated with the operation are the main drawbacks. In this work, a chemical absorption system using a 30% MEA solution was modeled to process 3,240 t/h of flue gases with 12% CO2 content, and evaluated for design insights and their potential cost reduction and fewer energy losses, thus providing a screening tool for design and scale-up. Thermodynamic analysis showed that regulating the inlet temperature of the stripper column was pivotal in decreasing exergy destruction and heat consumption. A trade-off analysis allowed tracing their influence on system metrics, with absorber parameters being critical. Nevertheless, minimizing the Levelized Cost of CO2 Capture proved to be a more suitable metric for decision-making compared to either heat consumption or exergy efficiency. Solutions were ranked based on TOPSIS tool, which confirmed the most relevant design parameters. The potential operational expense savings (20 USD/t CO2), and thermodynamic improvement (52%), were achieved. Although capture cost values are within the expected industrial range for mature capture technologies (70 USD/t CO2), these are still far away from current taxes and levers for curbing emissions.

Keywords: CCUS; MEA; Trade-off analysis; Exergy analysis; TOPSIS (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544223013981
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:energy:v:280:y:2023:i:c:s0360544223013981

DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2023.128004

Access Statistics for this article

Energy is currently edited by Henrik Lund and Mark J. Kaiser

More articles in Energy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().