Patent Application
20190030481
This application claims the priority benefit of Taiwan application serial no. 106125238, filed on Jul. 27, 2017. The entirety of the above-mentioned patent application is hereby incorporated by reference herein and made a part of this specification.
The invention relates to a capture system and method, and more particularly, to a system and a method for capturing carbon dioxide.
Since the industrial revolution, the large amount of flue gas produced by the humans from burning fossil fuel has caused the concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere to rapidly increase. Since CO2 is the main greenhouse gas, rapidly increased CO2 concentrations cause global warming as a result. In the past few years, to reduce damage to the environment from CO2, a system for capturing CO2 has been developed, including a CO2 absorption tower and a stripper that can capture CO2 in flue gas via a chemical absorption method.
In the known system for capturing CO2, a reboiler is needed to heat the stripper. However, the stripping treatment heating the stripper via a reboiler produces significant energy penalty.
The invention provides a system and a method for capturing carbon dioxide (CO2) that can effectively reduce energy penalty produced during the capture of CO2.
The invention provides a system for capturing CO2 used for capturing CO2 in a CO2-containing gas. The system for capturing CO2 includes at least one CO2 absorption tower, a stripper, a first flash drum, and a compressor. The CO2 absorption tower has an absorbent. The stripper is connected to a liquid outlet of the CO2 absorption tower. The first flash drum is connected to a liquid outlet of the stripper. The compressor is connected between a gas outlet of the first flash drum and a gas inlet of the stripper.
According to an embodiment of the invention, in the system for capturing CO2, the CO2-containing gas is, for instance, flue gas.
According to an embodiment of the invention, in the system for capturing CO2, the absorbent can include ammonia water having a concentration of, for instance, 3 mole % to 10 mole %.
According to an embodiment of the invention, in the system for capturing CO2, the pressure of the stripper can be greater than the pressure of the first flash drum.
According to an embodiment of the invention, in the system for capturing CO2, the pressure of the stripper can be 8.7 bars to 10.5 bars. The pressure of the first flash drum can be 2.8 bars to 4.5 bars.
According to an embodiment of the invention, in the system for capturing CO2, when the number of the CO2 absorption tower is a plurality, the CO2 absorption tower can include an N number of CO2 absorption towers, and N is an integer greater than 1. The N number of CO2 absorption towers can be connected in series in order.
According to an embodiment of the invention, in the system for capturing CO2, a cooling section can be further included. The cooling section is connected between a liquid outlet of the first CO2 absorption tower and a liquid inlet of the N-th CO2 absorption tower in the N number of CO2 absorption towers.
According to an embodiment of the invention, in the system for capturing CO2, a mixer can be further included. The mixer is connected between the liquid outlet of the CO2 absorption tower and a liquid inlet of the stripper and used for mixing a rich solvent from the CO2 absorption tower and water.
According to an embodiment of the invention, in the system for capturing CO2, a condensation section can be further included. The condensation section is connected to a gas outlet of the stripper.
According to an embodiment of the invention, in the system for capturing CO2, a second flash drum can be further included. The second flash drum is connected to the condensation section.
According to an embodiment of the invention, in the system for capturing CO2, the liquid outlet of the first flash drum can be connected to a reflow liquid inlet of the CO2 absorption tower.
According to an embodiment of the invention, in the system for capturing CO2, a heat exchange section can be further included. The heat exchange section is connected between the liquid outlet of the CO2 absorption tower and a liquid inlet of the stripper via a first flow path and connected between the liquid outlet of the first flash drum and the reflow liquid inlet of the CO2 absorption tower via a second flow path.
According to an embodiment of the invention, in the system for capturing CO2, a cooling section can be further included. The cooling section is connected between the heat exchange section and the reflow liquid inlet of the CO2 absorption tower.
The invention provides a method for capturing CO2 including the following steps. A CO2 absorption treatment is performed on a CO2-containing gas using an absorbent in at least one CO2 absorption tower to form a rich solvent. A first flash treatment is performed on a liquid from a stripper using a first flash drum to form steam and a liquid after the first flash treatment. The steam is transferred to the stripper using a compressor. In the stripper, a stripping treatment is performed on the rich solvent from the CO2 absorption tower using the steam to form a CO2 stripping gas and a lean solvent.
According to an embodiment of the invention, in the method for capturing CO2, the absorbent is, for instance, ammonia water having a concentration of 3 mole % to 10 mole %.
According to an embodiment of the invention, in the method for capturing CO2, the pressure of the stripper can be greater than the pressure of the first flash drum.
According to an embodiment of the invention, in the method for capturing CO2, the pressure of the stripper can be 8.7 bars to 10.5 bars. The pressure of the first flash drum can be 2.8 bars to 4.5 bars.
According to an embodiment of the invention, in the method for capturing CO2, when the number of the CO2 absorption tower is a plurality, the CO2 absorption tower can include an N number of CO2 absorption towers, and N is an integer greater than 1. The N number of CO2 absorption towers can be connected in series in order.
According to an embodiment of the invention, in the method for capturing CO2, the rich solvent from the first CO2 absorption tower can be further cooled and the cooled rich solvent can be returned to the N-th CO2 absorption tower.
According to an embodiment of the invention, in the method for capturing CO2, the rich solvent and the water can be further mixed.
According to an embodiment of the invention, in the method for capturing CO2, the CO2 stripping gas can be further condensed to form a condensed CO2 stripping gas.
According to an embodiment of the invention, in the method for capturing CO2, a second flash treatment can be further performed on the condensed CO2 stripping gas using a second flash drum to form a CO2 flash gas.
According to an embodiment of the invention, in the method for capturing CO2, the liquid after the first flash treatment can include a lean solvent.
According to an embodiment of the invention, in the method for capturing CO2, a heat exchange treatment can be further performed on the rich solvent and the lean solvent after the first flash treatment in a heat exchange section.
According to an embodiment of the invention, in the method for capturing CO2, the lean solvent after the heat exchange treatment can be further cooled.
Based on the above, the system and method for capturing CO2 provided by the invention can provide the steam produced by the first flash drum to the stripper via a compressor to perform a stripping treatment on the rich solvent in the stripper, and therefore the system and method for capturing CO2 can effectively capture CO2. Moreover, since the first flash drum can be used to replace the reboiler, energy penalty produced during the capture of CO2 can be effectively reduced.
In order to make the aforementioned features and advantages of the disclosure more comprehensible, embodiments accompanied with figures are described in detail below.
The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the invention, and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate embodiments of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention.
Referring to
The absorbent source 110 is connected to the CO2 absorption tower 102a and provides an absorbent to the CO2 absorption tower 102a. The absorbent is, for instance, ammonia water having a concentration of 3 mole % to 10 mole %.
The CO2-containing gas source 112 is connected to the CO2 absorption tower 102a and provides a CO2-containing gas to the CO2 absorption tower 102a. The CO2-containing gas is, for instance, flue gas. The flue gas contains, for instance, 5 mole % to 30 mole % of CO2.
The CO2 absorption tower 102a and the CO2 absorption tower 102b have the absorbent. The CO2 absorption tower 102a and the CO2 absorption tower 102b are connected in series. In the CO2 absorption tower 102a and the CO2 absorption tower 102b, a CO2 absorption treatment can be performed on the CO2-containing gas using an absorbent to form a rich solvent and a gas after the CO2 absorption treatment. In the present embodiment, the rich solvent obtained from the CO2 absorption treatment is a solvent having a high CO2 concentration. The rich solvent is, for instance, a solution containing CO2 and ammonia water, wherein the molar ratio of the CO2 and the ammonia water is, for instance, 0.1 to 0.41.
In the present embodiment, the system 100 for capturing CO2 includes two CO2 absorption towers (102a and 102b) as an example, but the invention is not limited thereto. Any system 100 for capturing CO2 including at least one CO2 absorption tower is within the scope of the invention. That is, the number of the CO2 absorption tower can be one or a plurality.
Moreover, when a number of the CO2 absorption tower is a plurality, the system 100 for capturing CO2 can include an N number of CO2 absorption towers, and N is an integer greater than 1, wherein the N number of CO2 absorption towers are connected in series in order. At this point, the system 100 for capturing CO2 can include a cooling section 114. The cooling section 114 is connected between a liquid outlet of the first CO2 absorption tower and a liquid inlet of the N-th CO2 absorption tower in the N number of CO2 absorption towers. Therefore, the rich solvent from the first CO2 absorption tower can be cooled by the cooling section 114 and the cooled rich solvent can be returned to the N-th CO2 absorption tower. In the present embodiment, N is equal to 2 as an example. In other embodiments, N can also be an integer of 3 or more.
For instance, in the present embodiment, the cooling section 114 is connected between a liquid outlet 116 of the CO2 absorption tower 102a and a liquid inlet 118 of the CO2 absorption tower 102b. Therefore, after the absorbent source 110 provides an absorbent to the CO2 absorption tower 102a, the rich solvent from the CO2 absorption tower 102a can be transferred to the cooling section 114 by a pump P1. The cooling section 114 can cool the rich solvent from the CO2 absorption tower 102a and return the cooled rich solvent to the CO2 absorption tower 102b to continue the CO2 absorption treatment.
Moreover, the CO2-containing gas from the CO2-containing gas source 112 first enters the CO2 absorption tower 102a for a CO2 absorption treatment, then enters the CO2 absorption tower 102b via a gas outlet 120 of the CO2 absorption tower 102a and a gas inlet 122 of the CO2 absorption tower 102b for another CO2 absorption treatment, and then the gas after the CO2 absorption treatment is discharged from a gas outlet 124 of the CO2 absorption tower 102b.
The stripper 104 is connected to a liquid outlet 126 of the CO2 absorption tower 102b. For instance, the rich solvent flowing out of the liquid outlet 126 of the CO2 absorption tower 102b can be transferred to the stripper 104 by a pump P2 disposed on a first flow path 128. In the stripper 104, a stripping treatment can be performed on the rich solvent from the CO2 absorption tower 102b to form a CO2 stripping gas and a lean solvent. In the present embodiment, the lean solvent obtained from the stripping treatment is a solvent having a low CO2 concentration.
The first flash drum 106 is connected to a liquid outlet 130 of the stripper 104. A first flash treatment can be performed on the liquid from the stripper 104 using the first flash drum 106 to form steam and a liquid after the first flash treatment. The pressure of the stripper 104 can be greater than the pressure of the first flash drum 106. For instance, the pressure of the stripper 104 can be 8.7 bars to 10.5 bars, and the pressure of the first flash drum 106 can be 2.8 bars to 4.5 bars.
When the system 100 for capturing CO2 is initially in operation, since the stripper 104 does not have steam (i.e., a stripping treatment is not performed yet) therein, the liquid provided to the first flash drum 106 from the stripper 104 can be a rich solvent. After the system 100 for capturing CO2 is operated for a period of time, since the first flash drum 106 begins to provide steam to the stripper 104 and a stripping treatment is performed on the rich solvent by the steam, the liquid provided to the first flash drum 106 by the stripper 104 can be a lean solvent. Moreover, after the system 100 for capturing CO2 is operated for a period of time (i.e., after the first flash drum 106 begins to provide steam to the stripper 104), the liquid after the first flash treatment includes a lean solvent.
Moreover, a liquid outlet 132 of the first flash drum 106 can be connected to a reflow liquid inlet 136 of the CO2 absorption tower 102a via a second flow path 134. Specifically, the liquid after the first flash treatment (the liquid from the first flash drum 106) can be returned to the CO2 absorption tower 102a via a pump P3 disposed on the second flow path 134.
The compressor 108 is connected between a gas outlet 138 of the first flash drum 106 and a gas inlet 140 of the stripper 104 and can be used for transferring the steam produced by the first flash drum 106 to the stripper 104.
The system 100 for capturing CO2 can further include a mixer 142. The mixer 142 can be connected between the liquid outlet 126 of the CO2 absorption tower 102b and a liquid inlet 144 of the stripper 104 via the first flow path 128. Before the rich solvent flows to the stripper 104, the mixer 142 can mix the rich solvent from the CO2 absorption tower 102b and water to form a rich solvent having a balanced mass. The water is from, for instance, a water treatment unit 146. The mixing ratio of the rich solvent and the water is, for instance, 1000:1.
The system 100 for capturing CO2 can further include a condensation section 148. The condensation section 148 is connected to a gas outlet 150 of the stripper 104. The condensation section 148 can receive the CO2 stripping gas from the stripper 104 and condense the CO2 stripping gas to form a condensed CO2 stripping gas. Via condensation, water in the CO2 stripping gas can be removed, and therefore the water content of the condensed CO2 stripping gas is very small.
The system 100 for capturing CO2 can further include a second flash drum 152. The second flash drum 152 is connected to the condensation section 148. The second flash drum 152 can receive the condensed CO2 stripping gas from the condensation section 148 and perform a second flash treatment on the condensed CO2 stripping gas to further remove excess water and form a CO2 flash gas containing a high concentration of CO2. A liquid outlet 154 of the second flash drum 152 is connected to the stripper 104 and can return the water produced by the second flash drum 152 to the stripper 104. The CO2 flash gas produced by the second flash drum 152 can be discharged from a gas outlet 156 of the second flash drum 152 and high-concentration CO2 in the CO2 flash gas can be reused.
The system 100 for capturing CO2 can further include a heat exchange section 158. The heat exchange section 158 is connected between the liquid outlet 126 of the CO2 absorption tower 102b and the liquid inlet 144 of the stripper 104 via the first flow path 128 and connected between the liquid outlet 132 of the first flash drum 106 and the reflow liquid inlet 136 of the CO2 absorption tower 102a via the second flow path 134, wherein the rich solvent in the first flow path 128 is a cold fluid, and the lean solvent in the second flow path 134 is a hot fluid. Accordingly, a heat exchange treatment can be performed on the rich solvent and the lean solvent obtained after the first flash treatment in the heat exchange section 158. Specifically, after the heat exchange treatment is performed, the temperature of the rich solvent can be increased and the temperature of the lean solvent can be reduced.
The system 100 for capturing CO2 can further include a cooling section 160. The cooling section 160 is connected between the heat exchange section 158 and the reflow liquid inlet 136 of the CO2 absorption tower 102a. The cooling section 160 can cool the lean solvent after the heat exchange treatment.
It can be known from the above embodiments that, the system 100 for capturing CO2 can provide the steam produced by the first flash drum 106 to the stripper 104 via the compressor 108 to perform a stripping treatment on the rich solvent in the stripper 104, and therefore the system 100 for capturing CO2 can effectively capture CO2. Moreover, since the first flash drum 106 can be used to replace the reboiler, energy penalty produced during the capture of CO2 can be effectively reduced.
Referring to both
Referring to
Step S110 can be optionally performed to cool the rich solvent from the CO2 absorption tower 102a and return the cooled rich solvent to the CO2 absorption tower 102b. For instance, the rich solvent from the CO2 absorption tower 102a can be cooled using the cooling section 114.
Step S120 can be optionally performed to mix the rich solvent and water. For instance, the rich solvent and the water can be mixed by the mixer 142 at a specific mixing ratio (such as 1000:1) to form a rich solvent having a balanced mass. The water is, for instance, from the water treatment unit 146 in
Step S130 is performed to perform a first flash treatment on a liquid from the stripper 104 using the first flash drum 106 to form steam and a liquid after the first flash treatment. The pressure of the stripper 104 can be greater than the pressure of the first flash drum 106. For instance, the pressure of the stripper 104 can be 8.7 bars to 10.5 bars, and the pressure of the first flash drum 106 can be 2.8 bars to 4.5 bars. After a period of operation of the system 100 for capturing CO2, the liquid after the first flash treatment includes a lean solvent.
Step S140 is performed to transfer the steam to the stripper 104 using the compressor 108.
Step S150 is performed to perform a stripping treatment on the rich solvent from the CO2 absorption tower 102b using the steam in the stripper 104 to form a CO2 stripping gas and a lean solvent.
Step S160 can be optionally performed to perform a heat exchange treatment on the rich solvent and the lean solvent after the first flash treatment in the heat exchange section 158. After the heat exchange treatment is performed, the temperature of the rich solvent after the heat exchange treatment can be increased, and the temperature of the lean solvent after the heat exchange treatment can be reduced.
Step S170 can be optionally performed to cool the lean solvent after the heat exchange treatment. For instance, the lean solvent after the heat exchange treatment can be cooled by the cooling section 160.
Step S180 can be optionally performed to condense the CO2 stripping gas to form a condensed CO2 stripping gas. For instance, the CO2 stripping gas can be condensed by the condensation section 148 to form a condensed CO2 stripping gas. Via condensation, water in the CO2 stripping gas can be removed, and therefore the water content of the condensed CO2 stripping gas is very small.
Step S190 can be optionally performed to perform a second flash treatment on the condensed CO2 stripping gas using a second flash drum 152 to form a CO2 flash gas. Via the second flash treatment, excess water can be further removed such that the CO2 flash gas contains a high concentration of CO2. Moreover, the water produced by the second flash drum 152 can be returned to the stripper 104.
It can be known from the above embodiments that, in the method for capturing CO2, the steam produced by the first flash drum 106 can be provided to the stripper 104 via the compressor 108 to perform a stripping treatment on the rich solvent in the stripper 104, and therefore the method for capturing CO2 can effectively capture CO2. Moreover, since the first flash drum 106 can be used to replace the reboiler, energy penalty produced during the capture of CO2 can be effectively reduced.
In the following, a system and method for capturing CO2 of the invention are adopted to provide specific experimental examples of the embodiments of the invention to confirm the efficacy of the embodiments of the invention, but the scope of the invention is not limited to the following content.
In experimental example 1, the system 100 for capturing CO2 shown in
In experimental example 1, the pressure of the stripper 104 was set to 10.5 bars and the pressure of the first flash drum 106 was set to 3.82 bars. The absorbent provided from the absorbent source 110 to the CO2 absorption tower 102a was ammonia water having a concentration of about 5.5 mole %. A CO2 absorption treatment was performed on the CO2-containing gas using the absorbent to obtain a rich solvent. In the rich solvent, the molar ratio of CO2 and ammonia water was 0.408. After a stripping treatment was performed on the rich solvent via the stripper 104, a lean solvent was obtained. In the lean solvent after the treatment of the first flash drum 106, the molar ratio of CO2 and ammonia water was 0.25. The lean solvent contained ammonia water having a concentration of 5.5 mole %.
The experimental results of experimental example 1 are provided in Table 1.
In experimental example 2, the system 100 for capturing CO2 shown in
In experimental example 2, the pressure of the stripper 104 was set to 10 bars and the pressure of the first flash drum 106 was set to 2.82 bars. The absorbent provided from the absorbent source 110 to the CO2 absorption tower 102a was ammonia water having a concentration of about 6.8 mole %. A CO2 absorption treatment was performed on the CO2-containing gas using the absorbent to obtain a rich solvent. In the rich solvent, the molar ratio of CO2 and ammonia water was 0.367. After a stripping treatment was performed on the rich solvent via the stripper 104, a lean solvent was obtained. In the lean solvent after the treatment of the first flash drum 106, the molar ratio of CO2 and ammonia water was 0.15. The lean solvent contained ammonia water having a concentration of 6.8 mole %.
The experimental results of experimental example 2 are provided in Table 2.
In experimental example 3, the system 100 for capturing CO2 shown in
In experimental example 3, the pressure of the stripper 104 was set to 8.7 bars and the pressure of the first flash drum 106 was set to 3.4 bars. The absorbent provided from the absorbent source 110 to the CO2 absorption tower 102a was ammonia water having a concentration of about 10 mole %. A CO2 absorption treatment was performed on the CO2-containing gas using the absorbent to obtain a rich solvent. In the rich solvent, the molar ratio of CO2 and ammonia water was 0.391. After a stripping treatment was performed on the rich solvent via the stripper 104, a lean solvent was obtained. In the lean solvent after the treatment of the first flash drum 106, the molar ratio of CO2 and ammonia water was 0.30. The lean solvent contained ammonia water having a concentration of 10 mole %.
The experimental results of experimental example 3 are provided in Table 3.
It can be known from experimental example 1 to experimental example 3 that, the CO2 removal rate of the system for capturing CO2 is greater than 83% and the energy penalty thereof is less than 20%. Therefore, since in the systems for capturing CO2 of experimental example 1 to experimental example 3, the reboiler is replaced by the first flash drum 106, energy penalty can be effectively reduced.
Based on the above, via the system and method for capturing CO2 of the embodiments, CO2 in the CO2-containing gas can be effectively captured and energy penalty produced during the capture of CO2 can be reduced.
Although the invention has been described with reference to the above embodiments, it will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that modifications to the described embodiments may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention. Accordingly, the scope of the invention is defined by the attached claims not by the above detailed descriptions.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 106125238 | Jul 2017 | TW | national |
