Study of process intensification of CO₂ capture through modelling and simulation – Dr Meihong Wang at Cambridge Biannual

Written by Eni Oko (PhD Research Student, University of Hull). The author is grateful to the UKCCSRC for the opportunity to participate in this meeting through its ECR meeting fund

The presentation was given by Dr Meihong Wang as part of the Process Engineering Technical Session at the UKCCSRC Biannual in Cambridge 2-3 April 2014. Dr Wang is a Reader at the School of Engineering, University of Hull. He is a Process Engineer with many years of experience in modelling and simulation of post-combustion CO₂ capture and power plants among others. Also, he is a Chartered Engineer and holds a PhD from Imperial College London/University College London. He has been either PI or CI for a number of RCUK and EU projects both at Cranfield University and at University of Hull.

Previous studies had shown that massive vessels (absorber and regenerator) were needed for CO₂ capture from flue gas. This not only results to high capital cost and footprint but also explains why CCS commercialization has remained difficult. This is the background upon which Dr Wang and his team conducted the research. In 1980’s, Prof Colin Ramshaw and his team working at University of Newcastle demonstrated that volumes of process vessels can be reduced drastically without missing production targets through intensification. The work of Dr Wang extends from the findings of the earlier study on intensification by Prof Colin Ramshaw.

Dr Wang and his team pioneered application of intensification in post-combustion CO₂ capture application using modelling and simulation method. The modelling was carried out using conventional absorber model in Aspen Plus®. Appropriate correlations unique to the RPB absorber was implemented in FORTRAN and dynamically linked to the conventional absorber model in Aspen Plus®. This transforms the conventional absorber model to RPB model. The RPB model was validated against experimental data and it showed good performance.

Different cases studies were reported, namely process sensitivity to lean temperature and MEA concentration etc. One of the key findings was that temperature bulge experienced in conventional absorber do not occur in RPB absorber. Also, about 52 times reduction in packing volume was reported among others. The results of the study are already published in reputable journals, namely International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control and Applied Energy Journal.   Future direction is predicted to include similarly developing an RPB model for the stripper and an integrated absorber and stripper model using RPB.The presentation was given by Dr Meihong Wang. Dr Wang is a Reader at the School of Engineering, University of Hull. He is a Process Engineer with many years of experience in modelling and simulation of post-combustion CO₂ capture and power plants among others. Also, he is a Chartered Engineer and holds a PhD from Imperial College London/University College London. He has been either PI or CI for a number of RCUK and EU projects both at Cranfield University and at University of Hull.