Optimization of CO2 compression and purification units (CO2CPU) for CCS power plants

Oxy-fuel power plants are among the currently known major carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies those which produce the lowest carbon dioxide (CO2) purity CO2-stream. As a consequence, the oxy-fuel technology has the highest requirement towards CO2 purification. In the current paper two different purification processes are modeled in Aspen Plus™ based on a Peng–Robinson property method with kij mixing coefficients. Both separation processes are based on phase separation technique. The first one is equipped with two flash columns and the second one includes a distillation column. Both plants require a dehydration plant for water removal. For each process the impact of main design parameters on performance features such as specific power requirement, specific cooling duty, separation efficiency and CO2 purity are analyzed, including variations in flue gas composition, plant load and kij mixing parameters. The results were compared to a conventional 5-stage CO2 compressor.

► We model two types of CO2-compression and purification units for CCS-power plants.
► Both types are compared to a conventional 5-stage compressor.
► Optimum operation points with regard to specific compression duty are figured out.
► Both types achieve a CO2-separation efficiency higher than 90 wt% at design case.
► Both compression units are sensitive to power plant load.