Comparison of energy consumption for different CO2 absorption configurations using different simulation tools

The most studied method for CO2 capture from exhaust gas is by absorption in an amine based solvent like monoethanolamine (MEA) followed by desorption. A drawback with this method is the large heat consumption needed for desorption. A reduction of this heat consumption using alternative configurations is possible. Different absorption and desorption configurations for 85 % CO2 removal from a natural gas fired combined cycle power plant have been simulated with the process simulation tools Aspen HYSYS and Aspen Plus. In the Aspen Plus calculations, both an equilibrium based model including Murphree efficiencies and a rate-based approach were used. The results from this work show that all the simulation models calculate the same trends in the reduction of equivalent heat consumption when the absorption process configuration is changed from the standard process. Crown Copyright (C) 2014 Published by Elsevier Ltd.