A Parametric Study of Amine-Based Post-Combustion Capture: High Capture Rates and Targets for Improvements for Power and Industrial Applications

Abstract

This work presents a techno-economic assessment of amine-based post-combustion capture, considering a wide range of emission sources. The conditions considered include feed gas flow rates between 1 and 1000 kg/s, flue gas CO2 concentrations between 2 and 42 %mol, capture rates between 70 and 99 %, and interest rates between 2-20 %, which were varied to show their impact on the cost of CO2 capture using a 30 %wt MEA solution. For flue gas flow rates above 20 kg/s, there are limited cost reductions available from economies of scale. Increasing the capture rate from 90 to 95 % has negligible impact on the capture cost in nearly every case. For most of the scenarios investigated, operating costs represent more than 50 % of the capture cost. In those cases, reducing the cost of capital (i.e., interest rates) has limited impact on the capture cost and reducing steam requirements has a greater impact on capture cost compared to process intensification.

Keywords: CO2 capture, absorption, deep decarbonization, industrial CCS, techno-economic analysis