Chemical Process Industries

CH-211

Instructor: Imran Abbas

DEPARTMETNT OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING

FACULTY OF MATERIAL & CHEMICAL ENGINEERING

GHULAM ISHAQ KHAN INSTITUTE OF ENGINEERING SCIENCES & TECHNOLOGY

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Sources of CO2
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Sources of CO2
 Methods for CO2 Capture
Separating agent

Liquid
Principle of separation Water, methanol, PEG, MEA,
Method DEA, TEA, NaOH, K2CO3

Physical/Chemical CO2 solubility/reactivity Solid adsorbent

absorption Zeolite, Active carbon, alumina
CO2-solid affinity silicates, hydrotalcites
Adsorption
Diffusion through
Polymeric, ceramic, ion
Gas permeation membrane, pressure,
transport, membrane
concentration gradient
Cryogenic distillation Liquefaction, distillation
Distillation tower
Combination
Pressure swing adsorption
Pressure swing – solid
adsorbent
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2. CO2 Capturing:

The three general approaches to capturing CO2 generated from fossil

fuels (coal, natural gas, oil or biomass) :

1. Post-combustion

2. Pre-combustion

3. Oxyfuel combustion.

Combustion: rapid chemical combination of a substance with oxygen, involving the production of heat and light
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CO2 Capturing:
2.1 Post-combustion

- CO2 is separated from the flue gas after fuel (NG/Coal) is burnt

• CO2 capture involves reacting a fuel with oxygen and/or air in a gasifier to
2.2 Pre-combustion

yield a syngas, mainly consisting of CO & H2.

• The resulting stream of hydrogen (H2) can then be used as a fuel; the CO2 is

removed before combustion occurs.

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CO2 Capturing:
2.3 Oxyfuel Combustion

• Uses nearly pure oxygen instead of air for combustion of the fuel, resulting in a
flue gas that is mainly water vapour and CO2 (>60% by volume).
• The water vapour is then removed by compression, cooling and condensation.
• This process also requires the upstream separation of oxygen from air, with a
purity of 95-99% in most cases
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CO2 Capturing:
Comparison of three processes
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CO2 Capturing Methods: Chemical solvent absorption

• solvents for acid gas removal are amines and hot carbonates.
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CO2 Capturing Methods: 2 Adsorption

• Gas (adsorbate) accumulates on the surface of a solid/liquid (adsorbent)

• Adsorption systems operate in a

three step cycle:
• adsorb CO2,
• purge (remove impure gases)
• evacuate (remove/desorb CO2).
• The Adsorbent is purified in stages
using differences in either pressure or
temperature to remove the CO2 and
compress it for storage.

Adsorbents used in PSA:

alumina, zeolites and activated
CO2 molecules are attracted to the surface of an adsorbent carbon.
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CO2 Capturing Methods: 2 Adsorption

Desorption: Desorption (release of the CO2) is achieved by a number of methods:

1. TSA – Thermal Swing Adsorption: the desorption is

triggered by an increase in temperature.
• Energy intensive and slow process since the
entire mass of adsorbent must be heated.

2. VSA – Vacuum Swing Adsorption: the desorption of

CO2 is triggered by creating a near-vacuum.
• system will operate at near ambient
temperature, so requires less energy.

3. PSA – Pressure Swing Adsorption: the desorption is

triggered by a decrease in pressure, usually
from an elevated level to near atmospheric
pressure.

4. ESA – Electrical Swing Adsorption: the desorption

is triggered by an applied voltage.
• This method has the advantage of being
fast and requiring low energy.
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CO2 Capturing Methods: 3 Cryogenic (Distillation) Separation

• Use low temperatures to cool, condense and purify CO2 from gas streams.
• For moderately concentrated CO2 streams.

energy CO2

Distillation
Compression,
cooling

Gases with CO2 Liquid form

Non CO2
component

• CO2 can be separated from other gas components by first cooling the mixture until it
becomes a liquid. Very low temperatures are required for this and due to the low
temperature the following distillation to separate the CO2 is called ‘cryogenic distillation’.
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CO2 Capturing Methods: 4. Membranes Gas Absorption
 CO2 Capture Technologies
CO2 Separation and Capture

Absorption Adsorption Cryogenics Membranes Microbial/Algal

Systems

Adsorber
Chemical Gas Separation
Beds
Polyphenyleneoxide
MEA Alumina
Caustic Polydimethylsiloxane
Zeolite
Other Activated Carbon
Gas Absorption
Physical Regeneration
Method Polypropelene

Selexol Pressure Swing Ceramic Based

Rectisol Systems
Temperature Swing
Other Washing
Fig. Technical options for CO2 capture (The choice of method depends strongly on the particular
application)
9/20/2019 Discipline of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Indore 8
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Why to remove, Capture & Manufacture CO2

• global warming.
• CO2 in Earth's atmosphere is currently about 0.04

Carbon Capture and Utilization (CCU):