Post combustion carbon capture: Does optimization of the processing system based on energy and utility requirements warrant the lowest possible costs?

In this paper, optimization of a post combustion carbon capture process based on two different objective functions of energy and utility requirements and associated costs is presented. CO2 residual mole fraction of the regenerated solution, solution circulation rates and lean solution temperature were selected as three most important variables of the process for optimization. One at a time method is adopted for optimization of the process variables. The results show that for a post combustion carbon capture process using monoethanolamine (MEA), lowest costs of the process are associated with the highest CO2 residual mole fraction of regenerated solution, lowest solution circulation rate and highest lean solution temperature. Based on the results of this research, having a general view of energy and utility requirements of the process leads to finding the lowest possible process costs. However, if a component oriented view is adopted for energy requirements, the worst possible choices of operational parameters are likely to be made.