Environmental Performances of Various CCU Options in the Framework of an Integrated Chemical Plant

Abstract

Several carbon capture processes are investigated to separate a part of the CO2 contained in the flue gas of a coal-fired power plant located in a chemical integrated plant, with the objective of using it as a raw material in a production process. The expected results are to reduce the impact on global warming potential (GWP) and to increase the productivity of the plant. The study is based on the modelling of the combination of systems in the plant using a process simulation software and using life cycle assessment to evaluate both technical feasibility and environmental aspects. Models for the power plant, the production processes, amine chemical absorption, membrane separation and adsorption on activated coal are developed and validated against industrial and literature data. The life cycle inventory is obtained from the mass and energy balances given by the systems model. A first set of calculations is launched with a high purity requirement for the CO2 stream (95%) recycled into the process. Those calculations show a 12% increase in productivity for the chemical process considered, but result in no significant gain in terms of GWP. Conversely, scenarios with a lower CO2 purity (40%) show a drop around 9% of the impacts on GWP using membrane separation and activated coal adsorption, while keeping the other impacts at about the same level.

Keywords

• LCA
• process modelling
• carbon capture and utilization (CCU)
• adsorption
• absorption
• membranes