Integrated Adsorbent Process Optimization for Minimum Cost of Electricity Including Carbon Capture by a VSA Process

Assessing vacuum swing adsorption (VSA) technology for postcombustion CO2 capture and concentration (CCC) using energy and productivity indicators are useful, but its ultimate test must be the cost of electricity from a power plant including CCC. Here, our integrated optimization platform (Khurana and Farooq, AlChE J. 2017;63:2987-2995) developed earlier to simultaneously obtain the optimum adsorbent and process conditions is extended to include a comprehensive costing framework. The framework is complete with scale-up design and column scheduling, and compliant with National Energy Technology Laboratory costing guidelines for carbon capture. This is the ultimate tool that enables integrated optimization to minimize the cost of electricity. The Shell Cansolv CO2 capture system is used as the benchmark for evaluating the best performance of two VSA cycles for two adsorbents. The operating conditions and isotherm shapes necessary to achieve the lowest possible cost of electricity for the two VSA cycles are also presented to facilitate designing or searching the best adsorbent for CCC. (c) 2018 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 65: 184-195, 2019