Techno-economic comparison of absorption and adsorption processes for carbon monoxide (CO) separation from linze-donawitz gas (LDG)

Abstract

Linze-Donawitz gas (LDG) adjunctively produced in the steel mill contains over 60% of CO. Two processes that recover high purity CO from LDG were considered: COSORB and CO-Pressure swing adsorption (PSA). This study aimed to decide which one is more economically feasible than the other by techno-economic analysis (TEA). From the technical point of view of TEA, the process flow diagram (PFD) was constructed, the mass and energy balances were calculated, and the equipment type and size were determined in order to estimate the total capital investment (TCI) and the total production cost (TPC). From the economic point of view of TEA, economic performance such as return on investment (ROI) and payback period (PBP) was evaluated, and the sensitivity analysis was carried out to identify key factors influencing ROI and PBP. It was found that CO-PSA is more economically feasible due to higher ROI and lower PBP. The CO price highly influenced ROI and PBP.