Evaluation of CO2 capture process and operational challenges by dynamic simulation

This paper aims to develop, validate (against experimental results from literature and pilot plant operation) a dynamic mathematical model of CO₂ capture process and to investigate absorption performance of different type of alkanolamines (e.g. MEA, AMP etc.) for wide domain of operating conditions. The challenges are to model the complex phenomena associated with the absorber/desorber unit without losing important information and to ensure minimal differences between simulation and experimental results. The mathematical model of carbon dioxide absorption includes differential equations, e.g. mass and heat transfer models to study the coupled effect of temperature and concentration on the absorption rate, reaction kinetics, vapor-liquid equilibrium (VLE), hydrodynamic aspects etc. Determinant parts of the absorption model are the effective interfacial area, the mass transfer coefficient, heat transfer coefficient, pressure drop and liquid hold-up models. Dynamic simulation of different scenarios of dynamic behavior of carbon capture process is presented. The developed mathematical model is used to evaluate CO ₂ capture process for wide domain of operating conditions, in order to predict with accuracy the process parameters (liquid and gaseous flows, composition of the streams, temperatures etc.) and column's parameters (mass transfer area, mass transfer coefficient, pressure drop).