Process evaluation of CO2 capture in three industrial case studies

Paper in proceeding, 2014

This work evaluates the technical performance of post-combustion CO2 capture integrated with industrial processes through three plant level case studies; a kraft pulp mill, an oil refinery and an aluminum mill. As a reference, a comparison is made by applying the same capture process to a coal-fired power plant. Size and quality of the CO2 streams as well as opportunities for waste heat utilization at each industrial plant are evaluated. The heat requirement for MEA and ammonia based capture are found to be in the ranges of 3610-4400 and 2760-3680 kJ/kg CO2 for the different industrial processes, with the range strongly influenced by the CO2 concentration in the treated flue gas. For comparison, the heat requirement of the two capture processes when applied to the power plant is 3850 kJ/kg CO2 using MEA and 2850 kJ/kg CO2 using ammonia. Waste heat utilization is also crucial to the implementation of CO2 capture; one case, the aluminum mill, covered almost 60% of the heat requirement with waste heat. Industrial sources could therefore offer opportunities for efficient implementation of carbon capture.