Demonstration of Optimal Control of Post-Combustion Capture processes (DOCPCC)

The major purpose with the DOCPCC project is to demonstrate advanced control systems at both the Tiller pilot plant and the TCM test facility in order to reduce energy consumption during typical operating conditions. These typical operating conditions could be changes in flue-gas flow-rate and/or concentration of CO₂, which maybe induced due to requirement of flexible operation in the upstream plant.

More specifically, the Nonlinear Model Predictive Control based software CENIT from Cybernetica and a dynamic process model of absorption/desorption capture processes developed by NTNU and SINTEF were the basis for the project.

During the first phase of the project, the dynamic process model was adjusted and implemented as part of the CENIT software, which furthermore was tested successfully at both the Tiller and TCM test facility. However, during the course of the test campaigns some challenges were faced mainly related to numeric challenges in the underlying models of the CENIT software and to show actually the cost-savings of applying an NMPC based control system for absorption based CO₂ capture plants. These challenges are now being sorted out in an extension of the project and the plan is to further test the control system as part of a test campaign at TCM during the first 5 months of 2018 and during a shorter campaign at Tiller later in 2018.

The results of these extended tests will be presented at the GHGT-14 conference in Melbourne, Australia October 2018.