Thermodynamic analysis of a post-combustion carbon dioxide capture process in a pilot plant equipped with a heat integrated stripper

This paper presents a thermodynamic analysis of a carbon dioxide absorption process from flue gases, focusing on the Heat Integrated Stripper (HIS) as a promising modification to the conventional process. The primary objective is to compare the performance of the HIS-modified process with that of the standard process. Experimental research was conducted on a mobile pilot plant using aqueous solutions of MEA 30% for treating 200 m³/h of the flue gas. An advanced data validation and reconciliation method was used to reconcile measurements in the mass balancing of the carbon dioxide absorption process. The results demonstrate that heat integration has a positive impact on the temperature profile of the stripper, leading to an increase in carbon dioxide capture without requiring additional heat consumption. Specifically, the reboiler heat duty in the process was reduced from 3.22 to 3.00 MJ/kg_CO2, indicating the effectiveness of the HIS-modified process in reducing energy consumption. The use of the advanced data validation and reconciliation method also increases the reliability of the obtained results, which can be beneficial for process modeling and design. These findings contribute to the development of more efficient carbon capture technologies.