PROCESS MODELING and ANALYSIS of CO2 PURIFICATION for OXY-COAL COMBUSTION MASSACHUSETTS INS E by of TECHNOLOGY
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PROCESS MODELING AND ANALYSIS OF CO2 PURIFICATION FOR OXY-COAL COMBUSTION MASSACHUSETTS INS E By OF TECHNOLOGY Chukwunwike Ogbonnia Iloeje MAY 18 2011 B.Eng. Mechanical Engineering LIBRRIES University of Nigeria, Nsukka, 2004 SUBMITTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING IN AR(MES PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE IN MECHANICAL ENGINEERING AT THE MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY JANUARY 2011 0 2011 Massachusetts Institute of Technology. All rights reserved. The author hereby grants to MIT permission to reproduce and to distribute publicly paper and electronic copies of this thesis document in whole or in part in any medium now known or hereafter created. Signature of Author........... ............................... Department of Mechanical Engineering January 14, 2011 Certified by.............. Ahmed F. Ghoniem Ronald C. Crane Professor Thacic Cunanwicnr Accepted by.................................. .... ................. Dave E.Hardt Chairman, Department Committee on Graduate Students *r PROCESS MODELING AND ANALYSIS OF CO2 PURIFICATION FOR OXY-COAL COMBUSTION By Chukwunwike Ogbonnia Iloeje Submitted to the Department of Mechanical Engineering on January 14, 2011 in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering ABSTRACT Oxy-coal combustion technology has great potential as one of the major CO2 capture technologies for power generation from coal. The distinguishing feature of oxy-coal combustion is that the oxygen source is a high concentration oxygen stream and the product flue gas consists primarily of CO2 and H20 with contaminants like NOx, SOx, and non-condensable gases like argon, oxygen and nitrogen. For carbon sequestration and Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) applications, pipeline transport standards as well as storage specifications impose concentration limits on these contaminants. These must be removed to ensure that the transported C02-rich stream stays within specified limits to prevent aqueous phase separation, hydrate formation, and corrosion due to acids, water or oxygen. The purification process however constitutes additional energy consumption and lowers overall cycle efficiency. Purification options like traditional flue gas desulfurization (FGD), selective catalytic reduction (SCR), catalytic 02 consumption, packed bed adsorption and low temperature flash separation have been proposed. In this thesis, we develop a novel CO2 purification process model for oxy combustion systems that utilizes high-pressure reactive absorption columns for NOx and SOxrem oval and distillation strategies for non- condensable gas removal. This process results in significant cost savings and lower energy consumption compared to the traditional systems. We conduct a sensitivity analysis NOx and SOx removal system to determine the key performance parameters and based on the results present a modification to the base case that results in further cost and energy savings. Different strategies for the removal of non-condensable gases are developed and compared. This study also explores opportunities for integrating the CO2 purification unit (CPU) with the base cycle and the impacts of the different strategies on the overall oxy combustion cycle efficiency are presented. A cost analysis for the proposed purification process is also presented. Thesis Supervisor: Ahmed F. Ghoniem Title: Ronald C. Crane Professor of Mechanical Engineering Acknowledgements I would thank my advisor, Professor Ghoniem, first for the opportunity to do this research and even more for his guidance, support and encouragement throughout my Masters Program. I am also grateful to Randall Field who has been extremely helpful in my research and provided me with necessary direction and support in all aspects of the research. I am grateful to my colleagues in the ENEL oxy-coal combustion project team, James Hong, Lei Chen and Sze Zheng Yong, for their help and enthusiasm. My thanks also go out to my lab-mates in the Reacting Gas Dynamics group and to Lorraine Rabb who has been very helpful. I would not forget the encouragement and support I have received from my family and for that I am very grateful. I would also like to acknowledge Total Corporation for the Fellowship I received for this Masters Program and ENEL for sponsoring my research. Not least are all the friends who have made life at MIT so much fun. Thank you all for being there. And a final thanks to God whose care I can always rely on. Contents Acknow ledge m e nts ............................................................................................................................... 4 Chapter 1 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 9 1.1. Motivation .................................................................................................................................. 9 1.2. Oxy-Com bustion Pow er Cycle ............................................................................................. 10 1.3. Characteristics of Oxy-Com bustion Flue Gas........................................................................ 12 1.4. CO2 Disposal Strategies.............................................................................................................14 1.5 Purity Specs for Geological Sequestration ............................................................................ 18 1.6. CO2 Purification Process for Oxy-Com bustion System s........................................................ 20 1.6.1. NOx and SOx Rem oval ................................................................................................... 20 1.6.2. Non Condensable Gas Rem oval ................................................................................... 26 1.7. The Proposed System ............................................................................................................... 27 1.7.1. NOx & SOx Rem oval (Single Colum n) System .............................................................. 27 1.7.2. Non Condensable Gas Rem oval ................................................................................... 27 1.8. Conclusion ................................................................................................................................ 29 Chapter 2 CO2 Purification Unit Analysis ........................................................................................ 31 2.1. SOx and NOx Rem oval Unit ................................................................................................... 31 2.2. Lead Cham ber Chem istry................................................................................................. 33 2.3. Nitric Acid Chem istry ....................................................................................................... 57 2.4. Non-condensable Gas Rem oval Unit ................................................................................... 60 2.4.1. Configuration A..................................................................................................................61 2.4.2. Configuration B..................................................................................................................64 2.5. Conclusion ................................................................................................................................ 66 Chapter 3 Results and Sensitivity Analysis ..................................................................................... 69 3.1 NOx and SOx Rem oval Unit ................................................................................................... 69 3.1.1. Chem istry ........................................................................................................................... 69 3.1.2. Therm odynam ic Property M ethod ............................................................................ 71 3.1.3 Colum n Specifications ................................................................................................... 71 3.1.4 Stream Results .................................................................................................................... 72 3.1.5. Stage Com position Profiles.............................................................................................73 3.1.6 Sensitivity analysis .............................................................................................................. 78 3.2 Non-condensable Gas Rem oval Unit ...................................................................................... 88 3.2.1. Therm odynam ic Property M ethod ............................................................................... 88 3.2.2. Model Results .................................................................................................................... 90 3.3. Conclusion ................................................................................................................................ 91 Chapter 4 Analysis of Cycle Integration Options ............................................................................ 93 4.1. Integration Options..................................................................................................................93 4 .2.R e su lts ...................................................................................................................................... 95 4.3. Conclusion .............................................................................................................................