(87e) Evaluation of Advanced Solvents for CO2 Capture From Syngas

Integrated gasification combined cycle for power generation has been shown to have the potential to achieve high electric efficiency and low emissions. It also offers process advantages to remove CO2 from synthesis gas due to its significantly higher CO2 partial pressure, comparing to that in flue gas from a pulverized coal power plant.  Currently, physical solvents (e.g. Selexol) are the primary choices to capture CO2 from the synthesis gas stream.

Power System Development Facility in Wilsonville, Alabama is a large-scale gasification facility that was established to develop and improve advanced coal-based power generation technologies. In 2009, a new National Carbon Capture Center was created at the site with the mission to provide slipstreams of syngas for testing and demonstration of various advanced CO2 capture technologies at multiple scales. Performances data gathered from the testing with coal-derived synthesis gas could help technology development efforts for real world operation and accelerate the commercialization process. Technologies tested so far include chemical solvents, physical solvents, H2 membranes and CO2 membrane as well as water gas shift catalysts and trace metal removal. In this work, characterization of advanced solvents in a  high-pressure, stirred batch reactor is described. The absorption and regeneration behaviors of several solvents in both simulated and coal-derived synthesis gases are discussed.