Published May 2024
The PEP Report 180H Carbon Dioxide Capture Economics Model (Part) I [October 2023] looked at carbon capture from flue gases from coal-fired equipment and combined cycle gas turbines (CCGTs). This Excel-based Economics Model Part II looks at two more critical aspects: compression of captured CO2 and CO2 capture from synthesis gas (syngas) for blue hydrogen.
The compression of CO2 is modeled for a typical carbon capture hub that will compress 1 million metric tons per annum (MMtpa) to 3.5 MMtpa of dry CO2 to a pressure of 150 bar gauge pressure (barg). The user only has to provide the amount of CO2 to be compressed and the model will display critical process parameters, such as the power and water consumed along with the economic data of the capital and operating costs. The user may note that only the compressor with CO2 drying using triethylene glycol (TEG) is modeled while the pipeline and sequestration are not.
Carbon capture from syngas from a typical steam methane reforming (SMR) reformer is modeled using a blend of methyldiethanolamine (MDEA) and piperazine (PZ), also known as activated MDEA (aMDEA). The flows of syngas from 4 kilograms per second (kg/s) to 64 kg/s [CO2 capture of 0.074 MMtpa to 1.179 MMtpa or hydrogen ex-Absorber of 17 kilotons per annum (ktpa) to 280 ktpa] are modeled. The user only needs to provide the amount of syngas processed and the model will display the key process parameters, such as regeneration duty, diameters of the absorber and regenerator, and the amine flow rates. The economic data of the capital and operating costs per kilogram of hydrogen is also displayed. This will be useful to evaluate the minimum premium that blue hydrogen will command.
For Economic Modeling, an Excel-based dashboard is presented to analyze the key operating and economic parameters for varying gas flows. This will allow the user to quickly estimate the major utility consumptions, key parameters and capital and operating expenditures.
Apart from the technical and economic analysis, we have also included for one case each a material balance table, a sized equipment list and process flow diagrams for CO2 compression and CO2 capture from syngas.
The technological and economic assessment of the process is the Process Economics Program (PEP)’s independent interpretation of a potential commercial process. Each of these is based on the information presented in the open literature, such as patents or technical articles and may not reflect in whole or in part the actual plant configuration. We do believe that these sources are sufficient to represent the process and process economics within the range of accuracy necessary for the economic evaluations of the conceptual process designs.
