Exergetic and Exergoeconomic Analysis of Three Different Technologies for Post-combustion CO2 Capture

Abstract

The last decades have seen a fast rise in global greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions by more than one-quarter, with CO2 accounting for 60% of all anthropogenic GHG emissions and the energy sector representing two-thirds of the total. Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) has been acknowledged as a technology for CO2 reduction, however development in lowering the cost and energy consumption remains an important challenge. One tool that can be used for optimizing the energy consumption of capture is the application of an exergy-based analysis including an exergetic and exergoeconomic analysis. This paper aims to develop an exergy-based analysis and compare the results of different post-combustion CO2 capture technologies using MEA chemical absorption, gas separation membranes and vacuum/pressure swing adsorption (VPSA). The results show that liquid/gas processes such as chemical absorption using MEA solvent has a total irreversibility almost double that of gas/gas processes such as gas separation membranes or vacuum /pressure swing adsorption.