HiPACT–advanced CO2 capture technology for green natural gas exploration

Tens of millions of tons per year of CO2 are being captured from raw feed gas by natural gas plants using solvent-based technologies comprising a pair of absorber and regenerator, and this CO2 is then being released to the environment. As interest in reducing CO2 emissions from natural gas plants has increased in recent years, CO2 capture and storage (CCS) has gained in importance. However, if a natural gas plant is provided with a CCS system, additional energy is required to compress the captured CO2. Therefore, JGC Corporation and BASF SE have started joint development of a new solvent-based CO2 capture technology, called HiPACT (High Pressure Acid gas Capture Technology), which improves the energy efficiency of the CO2 capture and compression units in a natural gas plant.HiPACT solvent is robust against the high temperatures associated with solvent regeneration at high pressures. Therefore, the regeneration process used in HiPACT can be operated well above atmospheric pressure, which significantly reduces the energy consumption of the CO2 compression unit. Further, HiPACT solvent absorbs a larger amount of CO2 per volume unit than other solvents, thus resulting in lower energy consumption for pumping and regeneration of the solvent. When compared to conventional technology, it is estimated that HiPACT can yield cost reductions of more than 25 percent.A recent pilot test has validated the key features of the HiPACT solvent, its thermal stability and CO2 absorption performance, and it has been decided to carry out a large-scale demonstration test.This paper presents the results of a batch test and a pilot test, both of which validated the key features of HiPACT, and presents the results of a case study which shows HiPACT’s advantages over state-of-the-art technology currently used worldwide.