Chilled ammonia Process Performance optimization Phase 1 (CHIPPER P1)

General Electric (GE) has built a test facility for CO₂ capture at Technology Centre Mongstad (TCM). In the test facility, CO₂ is captured using chilled ammonia, in the “chilled ammonia process” (CAP). The technology is ready for commercialization, but there is room for improvement in terms of energy consumption, reliability and costs.

SINTEF and GE have earlier collaborated on a pilot project, Chipper P0, also supported by Climit. Ideas for further research and development with the greatest potential to improve the technology was defined and prioritized. These ideas are further developed through processing of existing data from TCM and testing on a smaller scale in this project, Chipper P1, for possible implementation and validation at the plant at TCM.

The project has focused on improvements in the following areas:
– Performance of the ammonia water wash scrubber (Work Package 1 (WP 1
– Optimizing the CAP process through Exergy analysis (W2)
– Instrumentation; particularly for measuring gas and liquid compositio(WP 3)

Results

WP 1:
– Pilot plant studies were performed at the Sintef’s Tiller Pilot facility in Trondheim to evaluate a new packing material inside the water wash.
– The packing proposed by GE showed very good performances in controlling NH3 emissions
– Test results were compared with Aspen models, which showed good predictive capabilit
– It was recommended to install these packing at TCM for further validatio.

WP 2:
– Simulation analysis were performed on the current flow scheme as installed at TC.
– CAP technology is considered to be fairly efficien
– Some possible improvements have been emphasized. A thorough evaluation is required to understand the feasibility at TCM.

WP 3:

– Experimental study was performed to provide effective methods for CAP analytical measurement
– Fast-loop principle seems to be the main cause of measurement problems for the vapor phase. In-situ measurement is recommended.
– FT-NIR is considered as promising for the liquid phase analysis.