Result of the 60 tpd CO2 capture pilot plant in European coal power plant with KS-1™ solvent

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI), in collaboration with Kansai Electric Power Co., Inc. (KEPCO), has developed and is continuing to improve upon an energy efficient chemical absorbent CO2 recovery process called the KM CDR Process (TM) that utilizes the energy-saving CO2 absorbent KS-1 (TM) solvent. Long term, highly successful R&D activities since 1991, have led to the rapid commercial deployment of ten (10) CO2 capture plants, with a maximum CO2 capture capacity of 450 metric tons per day (tpd). One (1) further 500 tpd commercial plant in Qatar, currently under construction, will be commissioned in 2014. These plants have been delivered exclusively to the chemical industry; in the majority of the CO2 recovery plants, CO2 is stripped from natural gas fired steam reformer flue gas and used as a feedstock which reacts with ammonia to produce urea. To ensure that the KM CDR Process (TM) and KS-1 (TM) solvent could also be used in an environmental capacity for CCS application, the impacts of coal fired flue gas on the KM CDR (TM) process needed to be investigated. MHI constructed a 10 tpd demonstration plant at the Matsushima power station and operated it for more than 6,000 hours until concluding the successful test in 2008. The results and knowhow gained from the Matsushima test led to the construction and operation of the world's largest coal fired flue gas carbon capture plant in Alabama, USA. Southern Company 500 tpd plant began operation in June 2011 at Alabama Power's Plant Barry; the project became the world's first fully integrated black coal CCS project when SECARB began CO2 injection in August, 2012. MHI is continuing with numerous R&D activities related to amine CO2 recovery at both Japan based R&D facilities and abroad. During 2012, MHI's overseas R&D focus has been Italy, at the 60 tpd pilot test plant located at Enel's Brindisi Power Station. The pilot plant test, utilizing KS-1 (TM), was conducted over two (2) months capturing up to 60 tpd of CO2 from European coal flue gas. This pilot plant is one of the biggest post combustion capture pilot plants in Europe; maximum flue gas flow of 12,000 Nm(3)/h, CO2 content range of 11 to 13 vol% with the flue gas pre-treated to remove SOx via wet electro filters. The pilot plant absorber column is 46m high and 1.5m in diameter, including 3 structured packing beds and a washing section. The test program aim was to optimize operation using KS-1 (TM), while monitoring and minimising amine emissions. Several parameters such as solvent concentration, regenerator pressure, packing height within the absorber and stripper were adjusted with a constant CO2 capture rate to determine the optimum points. The MHI test results, utilizing KS-1 (TM) were directly compared to the pilot plant operation benchmark, 30 wt% monoethanolamine (MEA). The results showed that when compared to the benchmark, KS-1 (TM) required considerably less specific energy, had better tolerance to oxygen and significantly lower amine emissions.