Report released on economics of carbon capture

• 14 years ago (2010-01-14)
• David Flin

North America 1004

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SRI Consulting (SRIC) has released a techno-economic report “Advanced Carbon Capture” that examines the technology and economics of three processes for capturing 90 per cent of the carbon emissions from electric power generation using supercritical pulverised coal.

SRIC’s Process Economics Programme (PEP) report “Advanced Carbon Capture” examines three post-combustion scrubbing technologies: conventional monoethanolamine (MEA), advanced amine, and chilled ammonia. Analysis was conducted based on new plant construction at 550MW net power output. All three of these processes have technical and economic issues that must be overcome before they can be implemented on a commercial scale. On a levelised cost basis with 90 per cent CO2 capture and compression, MEA scrubbing adds 4.5 ¢/kWh, while the advanced amine and chilled ammonia processes each add 4.1 ¢/kWh to the cost of power generation.

Michael Arné, Assistant Director of SRIC’s Greenhouse Gases Initiative, and the author of the report, said: “The scale of the process equipment needed for power plant applications is remarkable. All three processes covered in this report require Gulliver-like equipment that will have its own challenges such as proper liquid distribution, pressure drop, and structural issues in the construction of large equipment items.”