CO2 Capture from NGCC Power Stations using Electric Swing Adsorption (ESA)

In this work, we have evaluated the technical feasibility of using Electric Swing Adsorption (ESA) to capture carbon dioxide from flue gases. Simulations under different operating conditions were performed to capture CO2 from Natural Gas Combined Cycle power stations where the CO2 concentration is 3.5%. The objective is to determine a proper cyclic operation to achieve a stream with high CO2 purity, running at high unit productivities to reduce the size and energetic consumption of the capture plant. We propose a novel process-scheduling of ESA process to purify the most adsorbed component to very high purities. Using an adsorbent comprising 70% zeolite and 30% of a binder conducting material (with a capacity higher than 1.1 mol of CO2 per kilogram at low CO2 partial pressure), it is not necessary to use a cooling step improving the process productivity. According to our simulations, with the proposed ESA process, it is possible to obtain a concentrated stream with 80% CO2 starting from a stream with 3.5% CO2. The energy consumption was 2.04 GJ/ton CO2, indicating that ESA can be included in the portfolio of CO2 capture technologies.