Engineering-Scale Demonstration of the Mixed-Salt Process for CO2 Capture: Site Preparation

Engineering-Scale Demonstration of the Mixed-salt Process for CO₂ Capture:

Project Start and Site Preparation

SRI International’s (SRI’s) MSP, an advanced ammonia-based CO₂ capture technology, is a step-change in the solvent-based, post-combustion capture technology development progression. The MSP uses readily-available, inexpensive ammonium and potassium salt solutions in a novel process flow configuration resulting in improved efficiency, reduced use of heat and electrical energy, reduced ammonia (NH₃) emissions, and a high-pressure CO₂ product. The technology has been tested at multiple stages since 2012; proof-of-concept, bench level, and mini-pilot level in the US and Japan.

SRI is currently planning to demonstrate MSP at engineering-scale (~10 MWe) at Technology Center, Mongstad, Norway (TCM). Under the project funded by the US Department of Energy (DE-FE0031588), the team will use the actual flue gas stream from the residue catalytic cracker (RCC) at TCM, which closely resembles coal-power plant flue gas. The specific objectives of the project include: integrate the MSP to TCM plant for testing under dynamic and long-term, continuous steady-state conditions with a real flue gas stream; operate the MSP with advanced heat integration to improve the process efficiencies and determine the optimal regeneration energy requirement; study the solvent and water management strategies; optimize the engineering scale-operation of MSP to achieve high capture rate, high cyclic CO₂ loading, and produce a high-purity CO₂ stream at high pressure; and collect critically important data for a detailed techno-economic analysis and further process advancements to enable the technology to meet the DOE’s $30/tonne of CO₂ goal by 2030. The project objectives are designed to identify the technology gaps and to determine the cost associated with integrating a MSP-based CO₂ capture system for a >550-MW coal-based power plant.

In this presentation, the MSP technology background and the activities relating to the preparation for the engineering-scale demonstration will be discussed.