The present invention relates to a system for recovering carbon dioxide from flue gas, in which a reboiler of a regenerator can be compactly installed, thermal decomposition of amine solution become small, and power of a CO2 compressor can be reduced.
Greenhouse effect due to CO2 has been pointed out as a cause of global warming in recent years, and a measure against it has become an urgent issue internationally for protecting the global environment. Generation sources of CO2 include all sorts of human activity areas that burn fossil fuel, and demands for the reduction of discharge thereof are further increasing. Accompanying this trend, a method of removing and recovering CO2 in combustion flue gas by bringing combustion flue gas in a boiler into contact with amine CO2 absorbent, and a method of storing recovered CO2 without discharging it to the air have been strenuously researched, with regard to power generation facilities such as a thermal power plant that uses a large amount of fossil fuel.
As a process of eliminating and recovering CO2 in combustion flue gas by using the CO2 absorbent, a process in which combustion flue gas is brought into contact with the CO2 absorbent in an absorber, and a process in which the absorbent having absorbed CO2 is heated in a regenerator to release CO2 and regenerate the absorbent so that the absorbent is circulated and reused in the absorber have been adopted (see, for example, Patent Documents 1 and 2).
As shown in
In
The carbon dioxide (CO2) recovered is compressed by a CO2 compressor 1022, thereby acquiring high-pressure CO2 gas 1023 of 10.0 to 15.0 megapascals (G).
The CO2 recovering system can be provided afterwards for recovering CO2 from an existing flue gas source, or can be provided at the same time of newly installing a flue gas source.
A reboiler for evaporating a part of the extracted amine solution is installed at the bottom of the regenerator 1008. The evaporated equilibrium vapor becomes stripping vapor for giving energy for amine-CO2 dissociation.
Because the amine solution for absorbing CO2 is not tolerant to heat and is decomposed at a high temperature, although a high temperature is desired in view of stripping performance. Therefore, the regenerator 1008 operated at a temperature as low as possible, taking thermal decomposition into consideration. A reboiler heat source is also limited up to 150° C.
In view of avoiding decomposition, it is preferred that a contact time of the amine solution with the heat source is as short as possible.
As a type of the reboiler, a horizontal thermo-siphon reboiler and a kettle-type reboiler have been conventionally used.
In
The horizontal thermo-siphon reboiler 1030 has a heat-transfer tube 1032 to which low-pressure steam 1031 is supplied. The heat-transfer tube 1032 heats CO2 absorbent (amine solution) 1033 extracted from the regenerator 1008, separates carbon dioxide therein, and returns it to inside of the regenerator 1008 as gas-liquid two phase flow 1034. Reference numeral 1035 denotes condensed water.
The horizontal thermo-siphon reboiler 1030 is normally used as a reboiler of a distillation column. However, it has a problem that evaporated vapor and liquid become mixed phase gas-liquid two phase flow 1034 to pass through the heat exchanger and an outlet piping, thereby increasing flow resistance. Therefore, a boiling point rise of 2 to 5° C. occurs in the heat exchanger.
As a result, thermal decomposition of the amine solution therein becomes a problem.
To suppress the boiling point rise, there is a case that a kettle-type reboiler 1040 is installed instead of the horizontal thermo-siphon reboiler 1030, as shown in a CO2 recovering system 1000B in
The kettle-type reboiler 1040 heats the amine solution 1033 by using a heat-transfer tube 1041, to which low-pressure steam 1031 is supplied, separates carbon dioxide therein, extracts it as vapor 1042 containing carbon dioxide from the top of the kettle-type reboiler 1040, and returns it to the inside of the regenerator 1008.
In the kettle-type reboiler 1040, the separated lean solution 1009 is separated by a gate 1043, and returned to a liquid residence section 1045 of amine solution at the bottom of the regenerator 1008.
In the kettle-type reboiler 1040, the evaporated vapor 1042 and the lean solution 1009 are separated in the heat exchanger and does not form vapor-liquid mixed phase at the outlet piping, and thus most of the flow resistance is only in a heat exchanger tube bundle. The boiling point rise for this is approximately from 0.2 to 1° C. However, a very large shell diameter is required for vapor-liquid separation and a residence time thereof becomes long.
A chemical reaction rate becomes twice when the temperature increases by 10° C., and thus it is preferred that the residence time in the kettle-type reboiler 1040 is as short as possible.
It is also preferred that the pressure is as low as possible, because the regenerator 1008 is operated at a low temperature for suppressing decomposition. However, because the recovered CO2 is compressed in multi stages, by increasing the pressure on a suction side, compression power of the CO2 compressor 1022 can be reduced. Therefore, an efficient regeneration system has been desired.
As an effective use of carbon dioxide in flue gas, conventionally, a part of carbon dioxide in the flue gas is only recovered to produce carbon dioxide for carbonated drink and dry ice. Recently, however, a greenhouse effect due to carbon dioxide has been pointed out as a cause of global warming, and a measure against it becomes imperative internationally for protecting global environment, and generation sources of carbon dioxide include all sorts of human activity areas that burn fossil fuel, and demands for reduction of discharge thereof are further increasing. Accompanying this trend, a method of removing and recovering the entire amount of CO2 in combustion flue gas by bringing combustion flue gas in industrial facilities such as a boiler and a gas turbine into contact with CO2 absorbent, and a method of compressing and storing recovered CO2 without discharging it to the air have been tested, with regard to power generation facilities such as a thermal power plant that uses a large amount of fossil fuel, and a technique for recovering carbon dioxide having high energy efficiency of the entire system has been eagerly desired.
Further, conventionally, use of carbon dioxide means production of dry ice and the like, and the production thereof can be realized sufficiently by using the horizontal thermo-siphon reboiler and the kettle-type reboiler. However, there are following problems when a large amount of carbon dioxide in large facilities is recovered, compressed, and stored.
1) In Case of Horizontal Thermo-Siphon Reboiler
Boiling point rise occurs due to flow resistance at the time of passing through a tube bundle of the heat-transfer tube 1032 provided in the horizontal thermo-siphon reboiler 1030, and thermal decomposition of amine solution is likely to occur. Therefore, absorption of carbon dioxide cannot be maintained stably for a long time.
Further, due to the boiling point rise, a temperature difference between a heat source which is a driving force of heat transfer and amine solution decreases.
Furthermore, due to the boiling point rise, heat transfer becomes such that convection heat transfer with a small heat transfer coefficient is performed up to a boiling point and boiling heat transfer with a large heat transfer coefficient is performed after having reached the boiling point. Therefore, there is a problem that a heat-transfer area of the reboiler increases, leading to size increase of the system.
If an operation pressure is decreased, anticipating the boiling point rise, the power of the CO2 compressor 1022 increases and, for example, there is a problem that the system efficiency in the entire power generation facilities decreases.
For example, in a system in which 110-MW power generation facilities are used, when exhausted carbon dioxide is to be recovered, plural (at least four) reboilers need to be appropriately arranged around the regenerator 1008, to maintain reboiler performance. However, if the CO2 recovering system becomes larger, the size of the reboilers also become larger, and thus a very large installation area (250 m2) is required.
The principle of circulating a horizontal thermo-siphon reboiler is such that a liquid head difference due to a density difference of vapor-liquid mixed phase fluid by a liquid head due to liquid density at an inlet of a horizontal thermo-siphon reboiler and vapor generated at an outlet thereof is used as a driving force, and pressure losses due to flow resistance at a tube bundle, inlet liquid piping, and outlet mixed phase piping in the reboiler are balanced. The heat transfer performance depends on the balancing situation, and when the balancing situation is not appropriate, predetermined heat transfer performance cannot be obtained.
Therefore, the horizontal thermo-siphon reboiler needs to be designed appropriately, taking into consideration the diameters, positions, height, and shapes of an amine-solution draw off nozzle of the regenerator, reboiler inlet, reboiler outlet nozzles, and connecting piping from the reboiler to the regenerator.
Therefore, at the time of recovering a large amount of carbon dioxide, when plural horizontal thermo-siphon reboilers 1030 are installed, it is important in view of flow and heat transfer performances to evenly distribute the amine solution 1033 from the regenerator 1008 to the horizontal thermo-siphon reboilers 1030. It becomes more complicated and difficult to appropriately arrange the connecting piping in this case than in the case of installing a single horizontal thermo-siphon reboiler 1030.
Further, at the time of maintenance of the horizontal thermo-siphon reboiler 1030, at the time of inspection, and at the time of cleaning when outside of the heat-transfer tube 1032 becomes dirty, and as shown in
That is, for example, in the case of a CO2 recovering system of 110-MW power generation facilities, 1800 tubes are required for one CO2 recovering system, and an operation for pulling out these tubes becomes difficult due to heavy weight thereof, and deflection at the time of pulling out the tube bundle of about 12 meters becomes a problem.
Further, at the time of pulling out the tube bundle, a maintenance site for a pulling-out operation (more than double the installation area) is required. That is, a total area S3 (500 m2) of a site area S1 (250 m2) for installation and a maintenance site area S2 (250 m2) is required, and when there is no large spare space in the site, installation of a CO2 recovering system becomes difficult in existing large boiler facilities.
2) In Case of Kettle-Type Reboiler
In the kettle-type reboiler 1040, a shell diameter increases due to vapor-liquid separation, and the residence time in the reboiler including the heat source increases, thereby increasing decomposition.
Further, to maintain the reboiler performance, plural kettle-type reboilers need to be appropriately arranged around the regenerator 1008. However, if the CO2 recovering system becomes larger, the kettle-type reboiler 1040 also becomes larger than the horizontal thermo-siphon reboiler 1030. Further, because the outlet piping is not for the vapor-liquid mixed phase flow, the arrangement complexity and difficulty of piping is slightly alleviated than in the horizontal thermo-siphon reboiler 1030; however, a problem on designing still remains.
Further, as shown in
Reference letter or numeral 1040-1 to 1040-4 denote four kettle-type reboilers, 1042-1 to 1042-4 denote four heat-transfer tubes, and 1040a to 1040c denote attaching parts of piping for supplying vapor 1042 to the regenerator 1008.
Further, at the time of maintenance, as in the horizontal thermo-siphon reboiler 1030, the tube bundle needs to be pulled out at the time of inspection and at the time of cleaning the tube. However, if the tube bundle becomes large, the tube bundle is hard to be pulled out. Further, the maintenance site for a pulling-out operation is required (more than double the installation area (S4 (280 m2)+S5 (280 m2)=S6 (560 m2) is required).
The present invention has been achieved in view of the above problems, an object of the present invention is to provide a system for recovering carbon dioxide from flue gas, in which a reboiler of a regenerator can be compactly installed, thermal decomposition of amine solution is small, and power of a CO2 compressor can be reduced.
According to an aspect of the present invention, a system for recovering carbon dioxide from flue gas includes: an absorber that brings CO2 absorbent that absorbs CO2 contained in flue gas exhausted from industrial facilities into contact with the flue gas to remove CO2 from the flue gas; a regenerator that strips CO2 from CO2 absorbent that is fed from the absorber through a first feed line and has absorbed the CO2 to regenerate CO2 absorbent; at least two falling film reboilers that draw off CO2 absorbent from near a bottom of the regenerator and reheats CO2 absorbent via steam; a first liquid-vapor separator that separates CO2 absorbent reheated by the falling film reboilers into CO2 absorbent and vapor containing CO2; and a second feed line for supplying separated CO2 absorbent to the absorber.
Advantageously, the system for recovering carbon dioxide from flue gas further includes: a condenser that condenses water vapor from CO2 gas carrying water vapor, extracted from a top part of the regenerator; a second liquid-vapor separator that separates condensed water vapor; and a CO2 compressor that compresses CO2 gas separated by the second liquid-vapor separator to acquire high-pressure CO2 gas.
Advantageously, in the system for recovering carbon dioxide from flue gas, the falling film reboiler includes a channel cover for maintenance provided on an upper part thereof.
Advantageously, in the system for recovering carbon dioxide from flue gas, a reboiler system is constituted by the at least two falling film reboilers and one first liquid-vapor separator that separates falling liquid from the falling film reboilers into vapor and liquid, and a plurality of the reboiler systems are arranged for one regenerator.
According to the present invention, because regenerated CO2 absorbent is reheated by a falling film reboiler, decomposition of the absorbent is reduced, and because the reboiler is made compact, an installation area of facilities can be made small. Further, because piping also becomes simple, installation thereof can be facilitated.
Further, because there is no boiling point rise within the reboiler, the pressure can be increased by 30 kilopascals than in conventional thermo-siphon reboilers, thereby enabling to reduce the power of a CO2 compressor.
The present invention is explained below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. The present invention is not limited to the embodiments. In addition, constituent elements in the following embodiments include those that can be easily assumed by persons skilled in the art or that are substantially equivalent.
A system for recovering carbon dioxide from flue gas according to an embodiment of the present invention is explained with reference to the drawings.
As shown in
In
In the present embodiment, the system can be made compact by applying the falling film reboiler 1101 to a reboiler of the regenerator 1008.
That is, as shown in
Further, as shown in
That is, because one or plural falling film reboilers 1101 are arranged for one first liquid-vapor separator 1103, the reboiler system is established adjacent to one regenerator 1008, and thus piping becomes simple.
On the other hand, in a case of a conventional horizontal thermo-siphon boiler 1030, when plural reboilers are arranged, complicated piping for evenly distributing the reboilers is required. However, in the present invention, even when plural falling film reboilers 1101 are arranged, it is basically sufficient to provide one first liquid-vapor separator 1103, and thus one piping for the vapor 1104 to be returned to the regenerator 1008 is sufficient.
The regenerated CO2 absorbent (amine solution) 1033 is supplied from the regenerator 1008 to an top of the falling film reboiler 1101 via the pump 1102. While the regenerated CO2 absorbent (amine solution) 1033 flows down through a thin film inside a tube, H2O-based equilibrium vapor is generated, and vapor flows out downward through the center of the tube. At this time, because liquid head and liquid-vapor head do not come in contact therewith, boiling point rise hardly occurs.
In the falling film reboiler 1101 according to the present embodiment, because boiling point rise does not occur, the pressure therein can be increased by about 30 kilopascals than in the conventional horizontal thermo-siphon boiler 1030 as shown in
Accordingly, power of the pump 1102 that supplies amine solution to the upper part of the falling film reboiler 1101 can be sufficiently compensated.
For example, when CO2 is recovered from flue gas from a 110-MW class power plant, efficiency thereof is improved by 0.1% to 0.2% after subtracting the pump power.
As shown in
In the falling film reboiler 1101, in the case of the 110-MW class power plant, a residence time can be largely reduced to about 7 seconds with respect to about 150 seconds in the case of the kettle-type reboiler 1040, and an amount of decomposition is reduced to about 1/20, assuming that the temperature in the reboiler is the same.
According to the present invention, in facilities for recovering CO2 or the like from flue gas, by using the falling film reboiler 1101 as the reboiler of the regenerator, it is possible to provide the system for recovering carbon dioxide from flue gas, in which the reboiler of the regenerator can be installed compactly, there is less thermal decomposition of amine solution, and power of CO2 compression facilities can be reduced.
A CO2 recovering system of 110-MW power generation facilities was compared with a conventional system as an example.
In this example, an amount of processed gas was set to CO2 (54,800 kg/H), and a CO2 recovery rate was set to 90%. An amount of recovered CO2 was 49,300 kg/H.
Monoethanolamine was used as a CO2 absorbent.
As for the operating pressure, the temperature was 135° C. and pressure was 182 kilopascals (G) in the falling film reboiler 1101, whereas the temperature was 131° C. and pressure was 153 kilopascals (G) in the conventional horizontal thermo-siphon boiler 1030.
A residence time was 7 seconds in the falling film reboiler 1101, whereas it was 150 seconds in the kettle-type reboiler 1040.
Power of a CO2 compression system was 5750 kW in the falling film reboiler 1101, and it was 6100 kW in the conventional horizontal thermo-siphon boiler 1030 (the operating temperature was set to 123° C.).
Because a supply pump is required in the falling film reboiler 1101, when 115 kW is subtracted from the difference above, reduced power is 235 kW.
As shown in
In this manner, according to the present invention, the system for recovering carbon dioxide from flue gas can be provided, in which a reboiler of a regenerator can be installed compactly, there is less thermal decomposition of amine solution, and the power of CO2 compression facilities can be reduced.
As described above, in the system for recovering carbon dioxide from flue gas according to the present invention, regenerated CO2 absorbent is reheated by the falling film reboiler. Therefore, decomposition of the absorbent is reduced and the system is made compact. Accordingly, the system for recovering carbon dioxide from flue gas can be installed afterwards in a carbon dioxide recovering system in existing large power generation facilities that require a reduced installation area.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2008-190306 | Jul 2008 | JP | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
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PCT/JP2009/051197 | 1/26/2009 | WO | 00 | 1/11/2011 |