Pressure Drop, Capacity and Mass Transfer Area Requirements for Post-Combustion Carbon Capture by Solvents

Post-combustion capture processes using amines are considered as one of the preferred options for CO2 Capture and Storage (CCS). However, the cost of avoided CO2 is very large and must be reduced. The latter cost is strongly linked with column designs which consequently must be optimized. In the present article, hydrodynamics and mass transfer performances of random and structured packings are discussed in terms of pressure drop, capacity and most importantly in terms of mass transfer parameters, in particular in terms of interfacial area which is the most important parameter for CO2 absorbers design. Comparison of different commercial high efficiency packings is discussed from experimental characterization and from CFD simulations and a methodology for future developments is proposed. (authors)