A New Hybrid Cryogenic Process for a Transformational Carbon Capture Process

While electricity production from fossil fuels is essential, increasing atmospheric CO2 concentrations caused by fossil fuel combustion are causing concerns regarding global warming. There is a particular need for new technologies that can remove CO2 from a new coal-fired power plant capturing CO2 with 95% purity at a cost of electricity at least 30% lower than a supercritical pulverized coal combustion power plant with CO2 capture, or approximately $30 per tonne of CO2 captured. TDA Research proposes to develop a new sorbent-assisted cryogenic process that uses an adsorbent-assisted separation of CO2 from the flue gases generated by coal and natural gas combustion. In the process, the reduction of adsorption temperature will significantly increase the CO2 uptake capacity of the sorbent (i.e., much smaller beds can be used to achieve the carbon capture, reducing the Capital Expenses). The sorbent regeneration will be carried out at a higher temperature which will allow the recovery of the CO2 as a high pressure gas suitable for further processing for sequestration or to be used as a feedstock. In the Phase I project we will evaluate the CO2 capacity and removal efficiency of the sorbent as a function of adsorption temperature. We will assess the trade-off between the adsorption temperature and sorbent performance, and optimize the operating parameters to reduce the energy needs to run the Temperature Swing Adsorption (TSA) Cycle. We will show that the new sorbent retains its activity for many adsorption/desorption cycles (a minimum of 10,000 cycles will be completed) in the presence of flue gas contaminants like NOx and SO2. We will carry out a preliminary design of the sorbent reactors. We will estimate the consumable requirements and parasitic power losses and design a highly efficient heat recuperation system to reduce the cost of cooling the flue gas to sub-ambient temperatures. Finally, we will evaluate the techno-economic viability of the CO2 capture technology. CO2 is a major greenhouse gas. Most of the load is the result of the combustion of fossil fuels, in particular the burning of coal to generate electricity. The proposed technology will provide a cost-effective way to control CO2 emissions. Due to the well-defined nanostructures and myriad chemical functionalities, our sorbent can achieve high CO2 uptake and selectivity to cost- effectively capture CO2. The new adsorbent can also be utilized in numerous industrial separation processes and gas processing applications.