First year operation experience with a 1 t/h CO2 absorption pilot plant at Esbjerg coal-fired power plant
Sustainable process-product development & green chemistry
Environmental Engineering & Management (T1-3)
Keywords: CO2 capture, amine scrubbing, power plant
Jacob Nygaard Knudsen1*, Jørgen Nørklit Jensen1, Poul-Jacob Vilhelmsen2 and Ole Biede3
1DONG Energy Generation, Teglholmen, A. C. Meyers Vænge 9, 2450 Copenhagen SV,
Denmark
2DONG Energy Generation, Kraftværksvej 53, 7000 Fredericia, Denmark
3Vattenfall A/S Nordic Generation, Støberigade 14, 2450 Copenhagen SV, Denmark
*Corresponding author. Email: jackn@dongenergy.dk
As part of the EU integrated project CASTOR, a 1 t/h CO2 absorption pilot plant has been erected at the 400 MW coal-fired Esbjerg power plant - operated by DONG Energy Generation, Denmark. The main purpose of the pilot plant is to demonstrate the post combustion capture technology in conjunction with a coal-fired power plant. Additionally, the pilot plant will be used to test the performance of new energy efficient solvents and to validate modelling work.
The pilot plant in Esbjerg was commissioned in late 2005 and testing commenced in early 2006. The design is based on a commercial CO2 production plant. The pilot plant applies the concept of amine scrubbing to capture more than 90% of the flue gas’s CO2 content. The CO2 is released again from the amine solution, into a gas of high purity, by thermal regeneration. The pilot plant operates on a slipstream of the flue gas taken after the deNOx and desulphurisation (FGD) plants. The flue gas does not undergo any further treatment or conditioning before it enters the CO2 capture plant. The pilot plant has a capacity to treat 5000 Nm3/h (0.5% of the total flue gas flow at the power plant), which corresponds to a CO2 production of 1 t/h.
At present amine scrubbing is considered the most mature of the various CO2 capture technologies that are being developed for large-scale applications. However, the energy requirements of the amine scrubbers of today are still extremely high and substantial electrical efficiency losses will be experienced if implemented in power plants. Thus, better solvents and optimised flow sheets for the capture process need to be developed.
Up till now, the pilot plant in Esbjerg has been in operation for more than 2000 hours using a conventional solvent, 30 %-weight monoethanolamine (MEA) solution. During this period a number of different tests have been conducted. Among others, tests to verify plant functionality and stability as well as a more detailed parametric study. This paper summarises the initial operation experience and some of the results obtained during the first year of operation.
See the full pdf manuscript of the abstract.
Presented Tuesday 18, 15:00 to 15:20, in session Environmental Engineering & Management (T1-3).
