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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2022

Modular Adaptive Packing for Integrally Cooled Absorbers

Process intensification is one cornerstone in ION Clean Energy’s (ION) efforts to lowering CO2 capture cost. ION has modeled, designed, and fabricated an innovative gas-liquid contactor known as Modular Adaptive Packing (MAP). During two successful SBIR Phase I and II projects entitled: “Rapid Design and Testing of Novel Gas-Liquid Contacting Devices for Post-Combustion CO2 Capture via 3D-printing”, ION developed and proved this new technology at bench scale. MAP, a 3D-printed lattice-structured packing, combines the absorber gas/liquid contactor with an innovative in-situ heat-exchanger. Thanks to the capabilities of 3D-printing, the lattice structure of MAP contains hollow channels through which coolant water can be pumped to remove the heat of reaction from CO2 absorption. ION refers to this novel method of heat exchange as intracooling. After 25.4 cm (10 in) diameter MAP modules were fabricated, ION built and tested a packing characterization rig at its pilot facility in Boulder, Colorado, U.S.A. To provide baseline results for the characterization rig, ION tested Sulzer’s Mellapak™ 250Y (MP250Y) as a standard structured packing. ION’s MAP was then compared directly to the baseline MP250Y packing to evaluate key indicators including pressure drop, liquid hold-up, and effective area. MAP has a higher pressure drop than MP250Y at the same gas velocities in addition to greater liquid holdup. However, ION found that MAP displays a higher wetting coverage of 93% compared to 65% for MP250Y and reduces shearing forces that result in undesirable droplet formation. Using Optimized Gas Treating’s (OGT) rate-based simulation software ProTreat®, a conceptual evaluation of MAP was modeled for a CO2 absorber using 30 wt% MEA solvent over a range of lean loadings at 90% CO2 capture from a coal-fired power plant. ION modeled a 25-meter column absorber for both the standard MP250Y packing and a hybrid column. The hybrid absorber contained 10 m of MP250Y packing at the top and bottom with the middle 5 meters comprised of MAP. Compared to a traditional intercooled absorber, MAP can remove 22% more heat and increase overall MEA carrying capacity by 4% without increasing overall pressure drop.

20 FOSSIL-FUELED POWER PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Advanced absorber heat integration via heat exchange packings

A rate-based model of an absorption column was developed and used to analyze several intercooling strategies utilizing “heat exchange packings.” These packings are capable of removing heat from the column and transferring it to a cooling fluid within the packing. For absorption of CO 2 into aqueous monoethanolamine under industrial conditions, intercooling via heat exchange packings placed along 10–20% of the column could reduce the column height by ~15%. The height of these columns was close to the minimum theoretical value, calculated by numerically optimizing the temperature profile. Effective intercooling could also be achieved by using the cool, rich solvent as the cooling fluid. This reduces the cooling load and facilitates recovery of waste heat. Heat exchange packings could also be used to redistribute heat within the column, reducing the column height with no net cooling load. However, this approach requires larger heat transfer coefficients than have been experimentally observed.

20 FOSSIL-FUELED POWER PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2022

A Process with Decoupled Absorber Kinetics and Solvent Regeneration through Membrane Dewatering and In-Column Heat Transfer (Final Report)

This report summarizes the work conducted on project DE-FE0031604 where University of Kentucky Center for Applied Energy (UK CAER) has validated its intensified CO 2 capture process through substantial enhancements to the kinetics of the absorption process and energy reductions by absorber temperature profile modification, dewatering and heat integration technologies for achieving significant capital and operating cost reductions. To address DOE’s objective of improving post-combustion CO 2 capture technology and reducing associated cost, UK CAER employed an intensified process which combined three key aspects targeted at overcoming inherent limitations or barriers in the conventional CO 2 capture and desorption process. The process designed to be independent of the type of solvent used, included (1) the use of 3-D printed two-channel structured packing material to control the temperature profile and increase the CO 2 absorption rate in the absorber, (2) a zeolite membrane dewatering unit for dewatering of the carbon-rich solvent to decouple solvent concentration needs for CO 2 absorption and desorption, and (3) a rich-split feed with two-phase flow heat transfer prior to the stripper that provided a secondary point of vapor generation to provide energy savings in steam extraction and solvent regeneration. The project was executed over two budget periods. This involved testing of individual process components which included the advanced heat transfer packing and the dewatering membrane on UK CAER’s 30 liter per minute (L/min) CO 2 (3” Column) capture bench unit with simulated flue gas in the first budget period. Subsequent scaled-up testing of these components together with the split-feed configuration were also tested in UK CAER’s 0.1 MWth CO 2 capture unit with coal-derived flue gas in the second-budget period. Long term studies were done during this period to assess process and solvent performance over extended duration. Project partners Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and Media & Process Technology (MPT) led the development efforts for the advanced packing material and dewatering membrane respectively. Data from the long term testing was used as input for an environmental, health and safety (EH&S) assessment for the process and scaled technology performed by ALL4 LLC. Trimeric Corporation also completed a techno-economic analysis (TEA) for the UK CAER technology which was compared to the DOE reference Case B12B. Tests on the 3” column capture unit showed that the advanced heat transfer packing could be used to lower the bulge temperature in the absorber, and this was also proven in the scaled testing in the 0.1 MWth CO 2 capture unit. The bulge temperature could be lowered by >10 °C, changing the temperature profile in the absorber, and showed potential to enhance absorption with the ability to tailor the profile to provide conditions suitable for a solvent’s properties and kinetics. Conditions for short term evaluation of a 19” zeolite dewatering membrane on the 3” column capture unit yielded desirable fluxes and sustained rejection rates of >80%. However, for the scaled testing of six membrane modules consisting of 21 parts of 31-inch-long membrane tubes in each bundle (surface area 0.3 m 2 ), over a more extended duration, similar rejection rates could not be achieved. With the split-feed of the rich stream to the stripper, improved heat recovery minimized waste heat exiting the top of the stripper. The stripper exhaust temperatures could be reduced by >10 °C; reducing the amount of water vaporization contributed to lowering the regeneration energy by ~ 15%. The energy benefit could be sustained from the long term monitoring of the solvent performance. The solvent properties were not significantly impacted over the long-term operations. The benefits of the UK CAER process demonstrated experimentally were mostly validated from the TEA comparing a commercial scale application of the technology to DOE reference Case B12B. The cost of CO 2 capture for the UK CAER technology was estimated to be ~$34.97/tonne of CO 2 captured; a reduction of 23% compared to Case B12B. The increase in cost of electricity was also shown to be 16% lower than that of Case B12B. The total parasitic demand was also shown to be 11% lower. The key drivers for the benefits are a result of the process intensification approaches employed in the UK CAER technology for enhanced solvent performance, effective heat recovery and improved energy performance. The EH&S assessment did not find any major environmental concerns or barriers to the full scale implementation of the technology.

20 FOSSIL-FUELED POWER PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Advanced CO 2 Capture Solvent Systems for Dynamic Power Generation

RTI International, in collaboration with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Carbon Capture Simulation for Industry Impact (CCSI 2 ), Electricity Power Research Institute (EPRI), and West Virginia University (WVU), successfully completed a joint research effort in developing a cost-effective, resilient, load-following advanced CO 2 capture technology for natural gas power plants. The project’s objective was to develop a CO 2 capture process that maximizes the net present value (NPV) of the electricity sale by minimizing the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) under dynamic plant loads and high renewable penetration environments. The two key innovations developed in this project were the use of (i) advanced water-lean solvents (WLSs) and (ii) process intensification equipment, such as a rotating packed bed (RPB) absorber and dual-stage flash regeneration. The process’s low CO 2 capture cost is realized through WLSs’ low energy required for solvent regeneration, which lowers the operating cost while RPBs intensify the absorption process and reduces the power plant capital cost. A suite of advanced computational and simulation packages was implemented to guide the process design, validate the dynamic response of the capture plant, evaluate system-wide performance, and maximize the power plant’s profit. The project also engaged with power producers and other stakeholders to ensure its technical relevance and techno-economic viability. The development of this highly disruptive CO 2 capture technology could accelerate the industry adoption and thereby lower the greenhouse gas emissions of the U.S. power sector. Deployment of this technology can increase the reliability and decrease the cost of electricity generation in the U.S. by enabling the use of low-carbon fossil fuels to balance fluctuations of renewable energy availability.

03 NATURAL GAS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Enhancement of Carbon Capture Reactor Performance (Final Technical Report)

Significant challenges are still present in post-combustion CO 2 capture and new technologies and advanced components are needed to significantly advance the deployment of CO 2 capture for natural gas combined cycle (NGCC) plants. Critical elements of CO 2 capture that still need to be addressed include how to increase CO 2 mass transfer in the absorber column with liquid to gas ratios of <1.2, while reducing the size of the absorber column to reduce capital costs. Research involving chemical mechanism with design, synthesis, and assembly of materials with targeted functionally were combined with advanced additive manufacturing techniques towards development of enhanced CO 2 capture reactors that can lead to safe, reliable, and low-cost carbon capture technologies. The objective of the project was to develop and test novel carbon capture materials and reactor components that contribute to increased CO 2 mass transfer through increased turbulent gas-liquid interface and improved solvent wetting within the absorber. A technoeconomic analysis (TEA) was completed showing how the proposed technology decreases capital costs by reducing the size of the absorber column and the amount of packing required for high CO 2 capture rates. A technology maturation plan (TMP) was also developed to describe the current technology readiness levels (TRL) and outline additional research and development (R&D) needed to further develop these advanced components for NGCC CO 2 capture plants. The successful completion of this project has shown a pathway to reduce the absorber size and associated construction costs of post-combustion NGCC CO 2 capture systems at 97% capture and promote the utilization of abundant natural gas for production of reliable electricity.

20 FOSSIL-FUELED POWER PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Mass transfer intensification through increased surface wetting and liquid turbulence using 3D printing structured packing for CO2 capture

The absorber column is one of the most expensive pieces of equipment to construct in the solvent-based post-combustion carbon capture unit. In order to decrease the absorber size and reduce capital costs, novel polymer packings were proposed by enhancing surface wettability and local turbulence within liquid solvent. The novel packings intensify the mass transfer in CO2 absorption and show better separation efficiency than traditional structured packings. In this work, the economic influence of applying the more efficient packing with a shorter absorber column is studied in a techno-economic analysis for a carbon capture unit at a coal-fired power plant. The baseline case includes CO2 capture unit in a supercritical pulverized coal power plant to generate 650 MWe (net) of electricity, where the additional CO2 capture unit leads to 63.4% increase of LCOE. While implementing UK PCC with traditional and novel packings, there will be 47.2% and 46.4% LCOE increase separately, both of which are lower than the baseline value. Applying more efficient packing and smaller absorber could further lessen the LCOE increase. The UK PCC with traditional packings reduces CO2 capture cost by 23.4% and the application of the advanced packings allows to the reduction increases to 24.4%.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2022

CO 2 absorption intensification using three-dimensional printed dynamic polarity packing in a bench-scale integrated CO 2 capture system

Postcombustion carbon capture using a chemical absorbent is a promising technology to reduce CO 2 emission. However, the overall construction and operating costs remain a major challenge. In order to intensify the absorption process and to reduce these costs, a novel dynamic polarity structured packing (DP packing) with alternate patterns of surface polarity has been developed to enhance local macro-scale turbulence within the advanced viscous solvent to reduce the mass transfer diffusion resistance. Here, three DP structured packings that incorporate multiple polymeric materials were fabricated using three-dimensional printing technique and evaluated through parametric testing using a bench-scale integrated CO 2 capture unit with 76.2 mm ID absorber. At optimized operating conditions, the DP packing showed a relative 22.7% increase in absorption and 20.0% decrease in energy penalty.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2025

ROTA-CAP™: An Intensified Carbon Capture System Using Rotating Packed Beds (Final Scientific/Technical Report)

GTI Energy and Carbon Clean Solutions Limited successfully designed, constructed, and operated an integrated ROTA-CAP carbon capture skid. ROTA-CAP™ is a process intensification technology, applied for post-combustion carbon capture, which utilizes the centrifugal forces generated from rotation of rotating packed beds as well as advanced solvents to achieve increased mass transfer rates 1-2 orders of magnitude higher than conventional columns while substantially decreasing footprint. The test skid, which consisted of a dual stage RPB absorber with external interstage cooling and a single stage RPB regenerator, was operated at capacities up to 0.5 tonne/day of CO 2 capture with flue gas concentrations ranging from 4% to 22% CO 2 by vol. CO 2 removal rates greater than 95% were achieved, with CO 2 product purity also exceeding 95% by vol. Over 1,600 hours of operation were accumulated throughout the project, including over 1,000 hours of operation of the with real flue gas containing at least 9.8% CO 2 by vol. The skid was operated continuously for 24 hours per day and 7 days per week over the course of 7 long-term test campaigns, with the campaigns ranging from approximately 2-4 weeks per campaign. A techno-economic analysis was performed, and a cost of capture of $\$$41.18/tonne CO 2 was calculated for the ROTA-CAP process, compared to $\$$45.75/tonne for a Cansolv-based process. These results show a cost reduction of approximately 10% compared to the Cansolv-based process. Although this still exceeds the target cost of capture of $\$$30/tonne specified for this project, GTI expects that the cost of capture can be further reduced through further optimization of the design and technology. GTI also performed an engineering design review to determine the scale-up potential of the technology, with the results of the preliminary assessment indicating that it appears to be feasible to scale up the RPB technology to 4,000 TPD. It was also determined that both horizontal and vertical rotor orientations are feasible, though there are mechanical advantages to the vertical orientation.

20 FOSSIL-FUELED POWER PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Compact Absorber Technology Leads to Significant Reduction in the Cost of Point Source CO 2 Capture

The size of columns in traditional absorption-based processes for CO 2 capture contributes significantly to the overall capital cost. A demonstrated method to reduce the cost of point source CO 2 capture, focusing on reducing the absorber height by increasing the liquid-to-gas reaction contact area and decreasing the CO 2 diffusion resistance without increasing gas-side pressure drop is presented along with techno-economic analysis results. Bench-scale tests on the unique Compact Absorber showed overall CO 2 mass transfer enhancement of varying degrees compared to a traditional packed column for similar process conditions, demonstrating that a 60+% reduction in size of a typical post-combustion absorber with a packing height of 70-100 ft and total height of 150-180 ft can be achieved. The techno-economic analysis showed significant cost reductions when the Compact Absorber is combined with other transformative aspects of the University of Kentucky Institute for Decarbonization and Energy Advancement point source CO 2 capture process compared to the U.S. Department of Energy National Energy Technology Laboratory pertinent reference case for pulverized coal plants with CO 2 capture. Here, a levelized cost of electricity excluding CO 2 transportation and storage of $\$95.6$/MWh was estimated, which is a 9% reduction, with a total capital cost contribution of $45/MWh, which is a 12% reduction. Additionally, a breakeven CO 2 sales price also referred to as the cost of CO 2 capture, of $36.70/tonne was estimated when the UK hindered primary amine solvent is used, which is a 20% reduction compared to the reference case.

CO2 capture↗
DOE OSTI2025

Fiber-optic bolometers with high-temperature tolerance and reduced time constants for fusion plasma diagnostics

Fiber-optic bolometers (FOBs) designed for plasma radiation measurement in magnetically confined fusion environments have been previously developed and tested at the DIII-D tokamak. These FOBs utilize a silicon Fabry–Perot interferometer at the fiber tip for temperature measurement and a gold disk as a radiation absorber. This paper presents recent advancements in the development of FOBs with reduced cooling time constants and enhanced temperature tolerance. We also demonstrate high-temperature operation and report findings from irradiation tests. By incorporating a copper sensor holder as a thermal sink and integrating two closely packed sensor heads into a compact design, the cooling time constants were reduced to ∼100 ms in vacuum, while minimizing uncertainties caused by temperature gradients. The FOBs were subjected to heating at 400 °C for five hours, with no observed degradation in noise performance post-heating. High-temperature operation tests were conducted at ∼220 °C using a 404 nm square-wave modulated laser to simulate the plasma radiation. In addition, four FOBs constructed from copper-coated pure-silica fibers were fabricated and underwent irradiation testing, enduring a total γ-radiation dose of 15.2 MGy and a neutron fluence of 1.6 × 10 18 n/cm 2 . As a result, the FOBs maintained their physical integrity and the optical signal shows high visibility throughout the test.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2022

Efficient carbon capture using sub-textured polymer packing surfaces via 3D printing

Gas absorption is a common unit operation whose performance deeply relies on the gas liquid contact behavior. In this work, we report a solid polymeric surface feature containing microscale striation to improve the solid-liquid and gas-liquid contact and facilitate mass transfer. As a proof of concept, the surface feature is adopted for CO 2 capture absorber packing via 3D printing. Besides traditional embossing texture, an additional laminar striation is applied to the packing surface as a sub-texture. The packing shows notable CO 2 mass transfer increase without interfering with other key operating characteristics including pressure drop and liquid holdup. The improvement is based on the synergy of favorable wettability, thin liquid film and increased liquid mixing from rougher surface. In the demonstration test, the packing height could decrease by 33% using the advanced packing with same CO 2 removal, leading to a significant decrease in equipment size and capital expense for commercial CO 2 capture systems.

3D printing↗
DOE OSTI2022

Creative absorber design and optimization for CO 2 capture with aqueous piperazine

The Texas Carbon Management Program is preparing a Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) of the PZASTM (Piperazine with the Advanced Stripper TM ) for CO 2 capture at a natural gas combined cycle power plant in West Texas. This paper develops the absorber design for the capture system and studies the operational strategies of the absorber in response to ambient temperature swing. The design uses 2 absorber trains, and each train integrates absorption and a water-wash section in one column. Each column has a cross-section area of 174 m 2 and consists of 3 sections of MellapakPlus® 252Y structured packing. Packing heights for each section are 3, 4.9, and 2.7 m from top to bottom. A pump-around intercooler applied at the bottom bed circulates solvent and eliminates the direct contact cooler. The baseline CO 2 removal rate is 90% and will vary between 78% and 90% with ambient temperature. The system uses air cooling to eliminate cooling water usage. The water balance in the system will be managed by operating the water wash at a high circulation rate (1300 kg/h) to condense water during the night and make up for water loss during the day. Finally, the proposed design reduces the capital cost of the absorber column by minimizing the packing height and eliminating the direct contact cooler (DCC), and improves the energy cost by lowering the pump-around intercooling temperature and increasing the pump-around rate.

03 NATURAL GAS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Advancing Post-Combustion CO 2 Capture through Increased Mass Transfer and Lower Degradation

The over-arching goal of the proposed project is to develop three techniques to enable aqueous post-combustion CO 2 capture technologies to meet the DOE performance and cost targets of 90% CO 2 capture, 95% purity, at a cost of less than $30/tonne CO 2 captured. This will be accomplished by the development of materials and processes to increase mass transfer in the absorber and reduce the environmental impacts. While constantly working to reduce the cost of CO 2 capture via solvent development and process & heat integration, increasing CO 2 mass transfer through development of custom dynamic packing materials and tuning solvent physical properties may offer a route to increased solvent capacity, lower energy consumption and reduced aerosol formation. The environmental concerns that have been identified in amine-based CO 2 capture systems, nitrosamines specifically, are another critical element that will be addressed in this project. The specific objectives of the project were to: 1) conduct detailed studies to understand how solvent physical properties and aerosol formation are impacted by additives; 2) quantify the CO 2 mass transfer improvement from the dynamic polarity packing in the absorber and the additive-modified solvent using the existing UK bench-scale CO 2 capture unit; 3) quantify the energy consumption savings associated with enhanced mass transfer; 4) quantify the benefits of the UK’s electrochemical cell to decompose nitrosamines; and 5) collect the necessary information/data to conduct a high-level TEA assessment of the proposed technologies. The project involved the fabrication and installation of customized dynamic polarity packing and an investigation into the understanding of the impact of chemical additives on solvent properties to increase CO 2 mass transfer in the absorber column, and lastly the design of an electrochemical cell to decompose nitrosamines in a water wash. After both systems were fabricated, they were tested at UK facilities, including on the bench-scale CO 2 capture unit under parametric and long-term operation.

20 FOSSIL-FUELED POWER PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2020

FINAL TECHNICAL AND ECONOMIC FEASIBILITY STUDY ON THE APPLICATION OF A HEAT INTEGRATED POST-COMBUSTION CO2 CAPTURE SYSTEM WITH HITACHI ADVANCED SOLVENT INTO EXISTING COAL-FIRED POWER PLANT

This report contains the results of a techno-economic assessment (TEA) conducted of a heat integrated post-combustion CO2 capture process with Hitachi advanced solvent for retrofit into an existing coal-fired power plant (but treated as greenfield plant on cost analysis). The process has been developed by the University of Kentucky Center for Applied Energy (UK CAER). EPRI was chiefly responsible for this analysis, with significant input from WorleyParsons, Hitachi Power Systems America (Hitachi) and UK CAER. The project also involves the design, fabrication, installation, testing, and analyses of a slipstream facility located at L&GE-KU’s E.W. Brown Generating Station to demonstrate the UK CAER carbon capture system that could utilize heat integration with the main power plant. The design, start-up, and baseline of the pilot system was performed with a generic 30 wt% MEA solvent to obtain data for direct comparison with the DOE/NETL Reference Case followed by testing Hitachi’s proprietary solvent H3-1. In this techno-economic analysis, two cases utilizing the UK CAER process are compared, using different approach temperatures and solvent, against the DOE/NETL Reference Case (Case 10). The results are shown comparing the energy demand for post-combustion CO2 capture and the net higher heating value (HHV) efficiency of the power plant integrated with the post-combustion capture (PCC) plant. A levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) assessment was performed showing the costs of the options presented in the study. The key factors contributing to the reduction of LCOE were identified as CO2 partial pressure increase at the flue gas inlet, thermal integration of the process, and performance of the Hitachi H3-1 solvent. Recent UK CAER process pilot-scale testing data and process simualtion data showed that the packing heights of absorber and stripper columns were significantly oversized in the prelimanary TEA (Task 2 of this project) and thus updated in this final TEA for the H3-1 case only. In addition, the solvent make-up cost for H3-1 was updated based on lattest test results. Finally, a heat integration with the main power plant was applied in this final TEA to increase overall energy effciency for both the MEA and H3-1 cases. Additonal reductions in capital and operational costs are expected but not taken into account here. Shorter columns result in reduced pressure drops, smaller blower head and pump hydraulic head requirements. An increase in overall energy efficiency resuls in a decreased size of the power plant, the CCS and a reduced parasitic steam requirement to the CCS. The net efficiency of the UK CAER integrated PC power plant with CO2 capture changes from 26.2% for the Reference Case 10 plant in 2010 revised DOE/NETL baseline report to 27.6% for the MEA options considered, and 29.1% for the options utilizing the Hitachi advanced solvent. The UK CAER Process + Hitachi case also produces an extra 30.9 MW of generation compared to the UK CAER Process + MEA case and total 60.9 MW more than DOE Case 10. LCOE ($/MWh) values are $172.08/MWh for the MEA option and $157.65/MWh for the Hitachi H3-1 solvent cases considered in comparison to $189.59/MWh in January 2012 dollar for the Reference Case 10. The UK CAER CCS process with MEA case lowers energy consumption for CO2 capture to 1340 Btu/lb-CO2 captured as compared to 1540 Btu/lb-CO2 in the Reference Case 10. The UK CAER CCS process with H3-1 case further lowers energy consumption for CO2 capture to 973 Btu/lb-CO2 captured, for an advantage of 36.8% less energy consumption than Case 10. The study also shows 38.1% less heat rejection associated with the carbon capture system from 3398 MBtu/hr (Case 10) to 2104 MBtu/hr for the UK CAER + MEA system. Heat rejection is reduced to 2464 MBtu/hr in the UK CAER + H3-1 case, for a 27.5 % decrease compared to Case 10. Modeling outputs show that in the UK CAER process, the cooling water that is 2-5°C cooler than conventional cooling tower water can be achieved for ambient conditions common to the midwest and other regions. The results from the techno-economic assessment show that the proposed technology can be investigated further as a viable alternative to conventional CO2 capture technology. The evaluation also shows the effect of the critical parameters on the LCOE, with the main variables being the approach temperature and CO2 partial pressure increase at the flue gas inlet. A summary of the key advantages of the UK CAER Process + H3-1 case for LCOE and other economic factors compared to the DOE Case 10 is as follows: • A lower variable operating cost by $1.56/MWh ($1.08MWh less than the UK CAER Process + MEA Case), a 11.7% reduction compared to the DOE Case 10 • A lower COE by $25.32MWh ($13.94/MWh lower than the UK CAER Process + MEA Case), a 16.9% reduction compared to the DOE Case 10 • A lower LCOE by $31.94/MWh ($17.51/MWh lower than the UK CAER Process + MEA Case), a 16.9% reduction compared to the DOE Case 10 • A lower cost of CO2 captured by $18.65/tonne CO2 ($9.44/tonne CO2 lower than the UK CAER Process + MEA Case), a 30.4% reduction compared to the DOE Case 10 • A lower cost of CO2 avoided by $34.95/tonne CO2 ($18.53 tonne CO2 lower than the UK CAER Process + MEA Case), a 38.7% reduction compared to the DOE Case 10

Bhown, Abhoyjit S.↗
DOE OSTI2022

Development of Methane Emissions Model to Assess Fuel Recovery Potential at Gas Well Sites Using On Site Compression

The U.S. natural gas production and consumption has increased 85.5% since 2005 primarily due to the unconventional production methods of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing. Natural gas used as a fuel has a lower greenhouse gas (GHG) footprint than coal and petroleum due to lower Carbon Dioxide (CO2) emissions when combusted. However, the “greener” benefit to natural gas may be negated by leaks in production and transmission systems. Methane (CH4), the primary hydrocarbon in natural gas, has an estimated Global Warming Potential (GWP) of 28-36 over 100 years, meaning it can absorb 28-36 more energy than CO2 which has a GWP of 1.0. Natural gas well sites are prone to methane emissions, or leaks and irregular gas releases, vented to atmosphere throughout production and transmission. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) has recently granted West Virginia University (WVU) funding under agreement DE-FOA-0002005, to “Advance technologies to mitigate methane emissions and increase the efficiency of the natural gas transportation infrastructure”. As part of this funding WVU was tasked with identifying and quantifying sources of methane emissions at unconventional well sites, processing this data, and developing a system to recapture these emissions. A 0-D Simulink model was developed, utilizing standardized methodologies, data from previously conducted studies, as well as collected data from well sites in the Marcellus shale play region. The model was developed to predict emission rates from various components at natural gas well sites as well as the potential to utilize these emissions as fuel for the natural gas powered compressor engines on-site. This model was utilized to run high, medium, and low cases for four identified emission sources, engine size, pneumatic controller count, liquid level production which dictates tank emissions, and compressor packing vent emissions. Due to discrepancies in transient tank emission data, a high and low emission factor for tanks was used, resulting in two sets of 81 executed cases, and 162 unique cases of total site emissions and potential for fuel consumption. Each of the cases were run over 86,400 seconds at a 1 Hz, representative of a full 24 hour day of operation. The fuel consumption offset an average of 557% of fuel consumption on an energy density basis across all 81 cases with the high tank emission factor with a maximum offset of 2334%. The fuel consumption offset was an average of 82.9% for all 81 cases with the low tank emission factor with a maximum offset of 337%. This study highlights flaws in the use of publicly available methane number calculations to determine natural gas’s suitability as an engine fuel as well as the lack of public data for transient liquid storage tank emissions.

03 NATURAL GAS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Cost details from front-end engineering design of piperazine with the advanced stripper

This Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) was funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to estimate the cost to capture and compress 90% of the CO 2 from an existing natural gas combined cycle (NGCC) in Denver City, Texas, USA. The FEED used the PZAS (Piperazine with the Advanced Stripper) 2G amine scrubbing technology developed and modeled by The University of Texas at Austin. This FEED is unique in providing more public cost details than other FEEDs funded by DOE. The primary objective of the FEED was to provide a comprehensive estimate for the total installed cost of the capture plant. The estimated capital cost of NGCC at the Mustang Station is $\$727$ million for a capacity of 460 MW and 1.6 million tonnes CO 2 /yr. This includes a contingency of $\$104.6$ million and a contractor’s profit of $\$60.1$ million. The total direct field cost is $\$384.1$ million. With an optimistic fuel value of $\$3$/MMBtu, the estimated cost of capture varies from $\$85$/t at 4% IRR/85% load to $\$170$/t at 10% IRR/52% load. Air cooling is technically feasible but expensive. The air cooling systems for the water wash and pump-around intercooling account for 23.4% of the direct cost. The gas-fired boilers represent only 4% of the direct costs, but steam extraction would reduce energy cost, free up cooling water, and reduce the direct costs of processing additional flue gas and CO 2 from the boilers. The absorbers represent 9.6% of the direct cost in this FEED with no direct contact cooler and only 7.6 m of packing. Furthermore, the solvent cross exchangers are less expensive than expected (2.5% of direct costs). Doubling the number of these exchangers could reduce the heat duty from 3.0 to 2.5 GJ/t CO 2 .

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗