Advanced Amine Process Technology Operations and Results from Demonstration Facility at EDF Le Havre

Alstom Power and The Dow Chemical Company have jointly developed an Advanced Amine Process (AAP) utilizing Dow's advanced amine solvent formulation UCARSOL (TM) FGC-3000 for the capture of CO2 from fossil fuel power plant-generated flue gas. This development effort includes the use of facilities to address operational issues such as energy efficiency and solvent management, along with environmental factors such as emissions and wastes. A new demonstration facility has been constructed in Le Havre, France, through a partnership between Alstom and Electricite de France (EDF) with support from ADEME, the French Environment and Energy Management Agency. This facility is designed to capture 25 tonnes of CO2/day at a 90% capture rate on a slipstream flue gas from a hard coal-fired power plant. The EDF-Le Havre demonstration plant is equipped with flue gas conditioning for controlling the water content, temperature and SOx level of the incoming flue gas stream. The CO2 absorber column contains structured packing selected for optimal CO2 capture efficiency and fluid flow characteristics. The exiting flue gas passes through a water wash section designed to capture residual amine emissions. Amine solvent management comprises an amine reclamation system and assisted by an on-site amine solvent analytical laboratory. The quality of the incoming flue gas, the exiting flue gas and CO2 product gas streams are assessed through various gas sample locations in the pilot plant. Amine solvent sampling is available at various locations throughout the amine circulation loop as well as the liquid discharge locations for waste assessment. Additionally, the EDF facility is also equipped with an oxygen stripper to study the impact on solvent degradation. The current status of the Alstom Advanced Amine Process at EDF will be discussed in this paper. The presented results include the performance of the UCARSOL (TM) FGC-3000 amine solvent evaluated under varied process conditions in an advanced flow scheme set-up. The test campaign comprised several series of tests, including energy consumption at varied liquid-to-gas flow ratios (L/G) in the absorber while maintaining 90% CO2 removal, the effect of varying process conditions at a set solvent circulation rate, and the effect of different absorber intercooling and recirculation configurations on energy consumption. Results show that the advanced flow scheme effectively reduced power and energy demand by over 30% at a 90% CO2 capture rate versus a conventional process scheme with MEA solvent. (c) 2014 Alstom Technology Limited. Published by Elsevier Limited.