A theoretical analysis of the energy consumption of post-combustion CO2 capture processes by temperature swing adsorption using solid sorbents

► Evaluation of TSA potential for CO2 capture with simple theoretical approach. ► Fixed bed operation more interesting than fluidized bed one. ► Main challenge is to achieve near isothermal adsorption to preserve performances. ► Optimal solid sorbent definition and requested heat-transfer area evalu...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of greenhouse gas control 2013-05, Vol.14, p.74-83
Main Authors: Pirngruber, Gerhard D., Guillou, F., Gomez, A., Clausse, M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adsorption
CO2 capture
Fixed bed
Fluidized bed
TSA
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Summary:► Evaluation of TSA potential for CO2 capture with simple theoretical approach. ► Fixed bed operation more interesting than fluidized bed one. ► Main challenge is to achieve near isothermal adsorption to preserve performances. ► Optimal solid sorbent definition and requested heat-transfer area evaluation. CO2 capture processes based on dry solid sorbents have been praised as a very attractive alternative to absorption by amine solvents (in particular monoethanolamine) in terms of energy consumption. The present paper critically analyzes these very optimistic predictions. It presents a theoretical analysis of three different temperature swing adsorption (TSA) processes: (i) a fixed bed, (ii) an isothermal fluidized bed and (iii) an adiabatic fluidized bed. The solid sorbent is supposed to be an amine immobilized on a support material. A high-level estimation of the energy consumption of the three processes shows that the fixed bed process would be by far the most interesting option, because the thermodynamic driving force for adsorption is higher in the fixed bed. The performances of both the fixed and fluidized bed process dramatically improve if the adsorption step is operated under close to isothermal conditions. Heat transfer in a fixed bed is much slower than in a fluidized bed. Providing the heat exchange area required for isothermal operation is challenging in the fixed bed, but not impossible according to our rough estimations. The paper also defines the adsorption properties (adsorption constant, adsorption capacity, heat of adsorption) of the optimal solid sorbent.
ISSN:1750-5836
1878-0148
DOI:10.1016/j.ijggc.2013.01.010