Abstract

Cryogenic Carbon Capture™ (CCC) provides a fundamentally different approach for separating CO2 from light gases. Those familiar with carbon capture technologies generally can perhaps best appreciate CCC by comparison to oxyfiring. In oxyfiring, a typically cryogenic process separates O2 from N2 prior to combustion and uses the O2 to produce a flue gas dominated by CO2 and H2O . After cleanup, water condensation, and CO2 polishing, the process produces a gaseous CO2 stream suitable for compression to delivery pressure. CCC is similar, except that the cryogenic separation process comes after rather than before the combustion process and if separates CO2 from nitrogen rather than oxygen from nitrogen. It has the substantial advantages that (a) CO2 is much easier (less energy and cost intensive) to separate from N2 compared to air separation, (b) the CO2 separation process leaves the CO2 in a liquid phase that is much cheaper (capital and operating costs) to pressurize than gaseous compression, (c) the volumetric flowrate of the gas to be treated is smaller (perhaps non-intuitively, the dry volumetric flowrate of exhaust gas is smaller than the air feed volumetric flow in all practical combustion systems), and (d) the coldest operating temperature is significantly warmer. Similarly, CCC compared to amine absorption requires less 1/6 to 1/8 the energy for the phase change and has the same compression advantages as when compared to oxyfuel. On balance, CCC is about half as energy intensive and about half as expensive as leading alternative carbon capture processes.

This seminar reviews the CCC process, discusses the results of a large number of field tests from the process, and discusses the pathway to eventual commercialization.