Biorefineries have been defined as complex systems where biomass is integrally processed to obtain value-added products and energy vectors, involving recent research advances, technological trends, and sustainable practices. These facilities are evolving since new pathways and challenges for biomass upgrading appear constantly aimed at increasing process sustainability. Nevertheless, few literature papers summarize how these new trends can improve biorefinery sustainability and boost the transition to renewable resources. This paper reviews several challenges and future perspectives before biorefinery implementation at the industrial level. Challenges related to waste stream valorization, multifeedstock use, biorefinery energy matrix diversification, and new products based on new biomass conversion pathways are reviewed. Thus, this paper provides an overview of the most recent trends and perspectives for improving biorefinery sustainability based on waste stream minimization, integral... [more]

The Czech Republic is introducing new technological concepts for mitigation of greenhouse gases (GHG) in coal-based energy industries. One such technology, in power plants, is post combustion CO2 capture from flue gases by activated carbon adsorption. A life cycle assessment (LCA) was used as the assessment tool to determine the environmental impacts of the chosen technology. This article focuses on a comparative LCA case study on the technology of temperature-swing adsorption of CO2 from power plant flue gases, designed for the conditions of the Czech Republic. The LCA study compares the following two alternatives: (1) a reference power unit and (2) a reference power unit with CO2 adsorption. The most significant changes are observed in the categories of climate change potential, terrestrial acidification, and particulate matter formation. The adsorption process shows rather low environmental impacts, however, the extended LCA approach shows an increase in energy demands for the proce... [more]

The reduction of fossil CO2 emissions from key relevant industrial processes represents an important environmental challenge to be considered. To enable large-scale deployment of low carbon technologies, a significant research and development effort is required to optimize the CO2 capture systems. This work assesses various hybrid solvent-membrane configurations for post-combustion decarbonization of coal-based super-critical power plants. As an illustrative chemical solvent, Methyl-Di-Ethanol-Amine was assessed. Various membrane unit locations were assessed (e.g., top absorber, before absorber using either compressor or vacuum pump). All investigated designs have a 1000 MW net power output with a 90% decarbonization ratio. Benchmark concepts with and without carbon capture using either reactive gas-liquid absorption or membrane separation technology were also evaluated to have a comparative assessment. Relevant evaluation tools (e.g., modeling, simulation, validation, thermal integrat... [more]

The effect of cyclic carbonation−decarbonation operating parameters on Zr-doped CaO sorbent CO2 uptake capacity evolution is examined. It is revealed that the capacity steady state value increases with the decrease in the carbonation temperature, CO2 concentration in the gas flow upon carbonation and with the increase in the heating rate from the carbonation to the decarbonation stages. The rise in decarbonation temperature leads to a dramatic decrease in the sorbent performance. It is found that if carbonation occurs at 630 °C in the gas flow containing 15 vol.% CO2 and decarbonation is carried out at 742 °C, the sorbent shows the highest values of the initial and steady state CO2 uptake capacity, namely, 10.7 mmol/g and 9.4 mmol/g, respectively.

The problem of reducing carbon dioxide emissions from flue gas, particularly from flue gas originating from coal-firing CFB systems, is currently an important challenge. Many centers around the world have tested post-combustion CO2 capture systems. One of these systems, operated using DR-VPSA adsorption technology (dual-reflux vacuum pressure swing adsorption), was tested under the Strategic Project in Poland. The flue gas in this study originated from a supercritical CFB boiler (460 MWe). An important problem involved in capturing CO2 from flue gas is the occurrence of SO2 and NOx. These substances have a negative effect on the CO2 adsorption process. In this study, commercial impregnated activated carbon was used to remove SO2 and NOx from CFB flue gas in the pre-treatment section during the tests of a pilot CO2 capture unit in a large-scale CFB boiler at the Lagisza Power Plant (Poland). The spent activated carbon was analyzed using several different methods (N2 adsorption−desorptio... [more]

Natural gas is considered a helpful transition fuel in order to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions of other conventional power plants burning coal or liquid fossil fuels. Natural Gas Hydrates (NGHs) constitute the largest reservoir of natural gas in the world. Methane contained within the crystalline structure can be replaced by carbon dioxide to enhance gas recovery from hydrates. This technical review presents a techno-economic analysis of the full pathway, which begins with the capture of CO2 from power and process industries and ends with its transportation to a geological sequestration site consisting of clathrate hydrates. Since extracted methane is still rich in CO2, on-site separation is required. Focus is thus placed on membrane-based gas separation technologies widely used for gas purification and CO2 removal from raw natural gas and exhaust gas. Nevertheless, the other carbon capture processes (i.e., oxy-fuel combustion, pre-combustion and post-combustion) are briefly discu... [more]

The efficient and clean use of fuel is very important for the sustainable development of energy. In this article, a numerical study of molten carbonate fuel cell (MCFC) unit is carried out, and the source, distribution, and extent of six irreversible losses (fluid friction loss, mass transfer loss, ohmic loss, activation loss, heat transfer loss, the coupling loss between heat and mass transfer) are described and quantified. The effects of the operation temperature, current density, CO2 concentration, and cathode CO2 utilization rate on the exergy destruction and exergy efficiency during the power generation process are investigated. The results show that the main source of entropy generation in MCFC is the potential difference, which affects the ohmic and activation entropy generation, especially when the CO2 concentration is very low. The second is the temperature gradient, which causes the entropy production of the heat transfer. With the rise of the CO2 concentration at the cathode... [more]

The implementation of carbon capture, use, and storage in the cement industry is a necessity, not an option, if the climate targets are to be met. Although no capture technology has reached commercial scale demonstration in the cement sector yet, much progress has been made in the last decade. This work intends to provide a general overview of the CO2 capture technologies that have been evaluated so far in the cement industry at the pilot scale, and also about the current plans for future commercial demonstration.

This work focused on the application of a microchannel contactor for CO2 capture using water as absorbent, especially for the application of CO2-rich gas. The influence of operating conditions (temperature, volumetric flow rate of gas and liquid, and CO2 concentration) on the absorption efficiency and the overall liquid-side volumetric mass transfer coefficient was presented in terms of the main effects and interactions based on the factorial design of experiments. It was found that 70.9% of CO2 capture was achieved under the operating conditions as follows; temperature of 50 °C, CO2 inlet fraction of 53.7%, total gas volumetric flow rate of 150 mL min−1, and adsorbent volumetric flow rate of 1 mL min−1. Outstanding performance of CO2 capture was demonstrated with the overall liquid-side volumetric mass transfer coefficient of 0.26 s−1. Further enhancing the system by using 2.2 M of monoethanolamine in water (1:1 molar ratio of MEA-to-CO2) boosted the absorption efficiency up to 88%.

The Czech Republic is gradually shifting toward a low-carbon economy. The transition process requires measures that will help to contain energy production and help to reduce emissions from the coal industry. Viable measures are seen in carbon capture technologies (CCTs). The main focus is on the environmental and economic comparison of two innovative CCTs that are integrated in the operational Czech energy units. The assessed scenarios are (1) the scenario of pre-combustion CO2 capture integrated into the gasification combined cycle (IGCC-CaL) and (2) the scenario of post-combustion capture by adsorption of CO2 by activated carbon (PCC-A). An environmental assessment is performed through a life-cycle assessment method and compares the systems in the phase of characterization, normalization, and relative contribution of the processes to the environmental categories. Economic assessment compares CCT via capture and avoided costs of CO2 and their correlation with CO2 allowance market tren... [more]

We fabricated the Zr-doped CaO sorbent for high-temperature CO2 capture by the wet high-energy co-milling of calcium carbonate and natural zirconium dioxide (baddeleyite) for the first time. The morphology of the material was examined by scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray analysis and X-ray diffraction. Its CO2 uptake capacity was determined using thermogravimetric analysis. After 50 carbonation−calcination cycles, the Zr-doped CaO sorbent characterized by a high enough CO2 uptake capacity of 8.6 mmol/g and unchanged microstructure due to CaZrO3 nanoparticles uniformly distributed in the CaO matrix to prevent CaCO3 sintering under carbonation. The proposed easy-to-implement CaO-based sorbents fabrication technique is promising for industrial application.

In this work, CO2 conditioning processes for ship-based CCS sequestration are modelled using the software APSEN HYSYS V11. This study uses the captured CO2 gas from the 3D project as the feed. The feed stream contains water, H2S, and CO as contaminants. The purification processes for dehydration, desulfurization, and CO removal are reviewed. Two liquefaction approaches, the open-cycle and the closed-cycle liquefaction, are modelled and compared for transport pressures 7 and 15 bar. It is found that the energy requirement of the open-cycle process is higher than that of the closed-cycle liquefaction process. For the closed-cycle design, two refrigerants, ammonia and propane, are considered. Results show that the energy requirement of the process using ammonia is lower than that of propane. When comparing the two transport pressures, it is found that liquefaction at 15 bar requires less energy than 7 bar. On top of that, both refrigerants are unsuited for the liquefaction of CO2 at 7 bar... [more]

Carbon sequestration via the carbon capture and storage (CCS) method is one of the most useful methods of lowering CO2 emissions in the atmosphere. Ethylenediamine (EDA)- and triethylenetetramine (TETA)-modified mesoporous carbon (MC) has been successfully prepared as a CO2 storage material. The effect of various concentrations of EDA or TETA added to MC, as well as activated carbon (AC), on their CO2 adsorption capacity were investigated using high-purity CO2 as a feed and a titration method to quantitatively measure the amount of adsorbed CO2. The results showed that within 60 min adsorption time, MCEDA49 gave the highest CO2 capacity adsorption (19.68 mmol/g), followed by MC-TETA30 (11.241 mol/g). The improvement of CO2 adsorption capacity at low TETA loadings proved that the four amine functional groups in TETA gave an advantage to CO2 adsorption. TETA-functionalized MC has the potential to be used as a CO2 storage material at a low concentration. Therefore, it is relatively benign... [more]

Petroleum coke (petcoke) is a by-product of heavy petroleum refining, with heating values comparable to that of coal. It is readily available in oil-producing countries such as the United States of America (USA) and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) at minimum costs and can be used as an inexpensive fossil fuel for power generation. Oxy-petcoke combustion is an attractive CO2 capture option as it avoids the use of additional absorption units and chemicals, and results in a CO2 + H2O flue gas stream that is compressed and dehydrated in a CO2 capture and purification unit (CO2CPU). The additional cost of the CO2CPU can be reduced through high pressure combustion. Hence, this paper reports a techno-economic analysis of an oxy-petcoke plant with CO2 capture simulated at pressures between 1 and 15 bars in Aspen PlusTM based on USA and KSA scenarios. Operating at high pressures leads to reduced equipment sizes and numbers of units, specifically compressors in CO2CPU, resulting in increased e... [more]

Chemical looping combustion (CLC) technology generates power while capturing CO2 inherently with no direct energy penalty. However, previous studies have shown significant energy penalties due to low turbine inlet temperature (TIT) relative to a standard natural gas combined cycle plant. The low TIT is limited by the oxygen carrier material used in the CLC process. Therefore, in the current study, an additional combustor is included downstream of the CLC air reactor to raise the TIT. The efficient production of clean hydrogen for firing the added combustor is key to the success of this strategy. Therefore, the highly efficient membrane-assisted chemical looping reforming (MA-CLR) technology was selected. Five different integrations between CLC and MA-CLR were investigated, capitalizing on the steam in the CLC fuel reactor outlet stream to achieve highly efficient reforming in MA-CLR. This integration reduced the energy penalty as low as 3.6%-points for power production only (case 2) an... [more]

The objective of this study is to assess the techno-economic potential of the proposed novel energy system, which allows for negative emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2). The analyzed system comprises four main subsystems: a biomass-fired combined heat and power plant integrated with a CO2 capture and compression unit, a CO2 transport pipeline, a CO2-enhanced geothermal system, and a supercritical CO2 Brayton power cycle. For the purpose of the comprehensive techno-economic assessment, the results for the reference biomass-fired combined heat and power plant without CO2 capture are also presented. Based on the proposed framework for energy and economic assessment, the energy efficiencies, the specific primary energy consumption of CO2 avoidance, the cost of CO2 avoidance, and negative CO2 emissions are evaluated based on the results of process simulations. In addition, an overview of the relevant elements of the whole system is provided, taking into account technological progress and tec... [more]

In this study, the thermal stability and corrosivity of various CO2-loaded tertiary amine blends in both aqueous and non-aqueous form in stainless steel cylinders were studied for combined acid gas and water removal. The thermal stability was measured from the remaining amine concentration and the corrosivity was measured from the amount of various metals in blends using titration and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), respectively. The experimental data were used to calculate the rate constants of amine group loss. The developed model represented the experimental data very well. Solvent change from H2O to triethylene glycol (TEG) in blends decreased the thermal stability and vice versa for corrosivity. The amine stability was increased when contact with stainless steel was reduced. An increase in the amine concentration or CO2 loading at constant temperature decreased the thermal stability and vice versa for corrosivity.

The increase of capital investments and operation and maintenance (O&M) costs represents a current limitation to the diffusion of carbon capture systems for the clean combustion of fossil fuels. However, post-combustion systems, such as calcium looping (CaL), for CO2 capture from flue gas are the most attractive carbon capture systems since they can be installed at new plants and retrofitted into existing power plants. This work investigates the pros and cons of employing a calcium looping system for CO2 capture and also as a desulphurization unit. A preliminary techno-economic analysis was carried out comparing a base case consisting of a coal-based power plant of about 550MWe with a desulphurization unit (Case 1), the same plant but with a CaL system added for CO2 capture (Case 2), or the same plant but with a CaL system for simultaneous capture of CO2 and SO2 and the removal of the desulphurization unit (Case 3). Case 2 resulted in a 67% increase of capital investment with respect t... [more]

The presented work is focused on biomass thermochemical conversion with integrated CO2 capture. The main aim of this study was the in-depth investigation of the impact of pyrolysis temperature (500, 600 and 700 °C) and CaO sorbent addition on the chemical and physical properties of obtained char and syngas. Under the effect of the pyrolysis temperature, the properties of biomass chars were gradually changed, and this was confirmed by examination using thermal analysis, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and porosimetry methods. The chars were characterised by a noticeable carbon content (two times at 700 °C) resulting in a lower O/C ratio. The calculated combustion indexes indicated the better combustible properties of chars. In addition, structural morphology changes were observed. However, the increasing pyrolysis temperature resulted in changes of solid products; the differences of char properties were not significant in the range of 500 to 700 °C. Syngas was analysed... [more]

Calcium looping is a promising technology to capture CO2 from the process of coal-fired power generation and gasification of coal/biomass for hydrogen production. The decay of CO2 capture activities of calcium-based sorbents is one of the main problems holding back the development of the technology. Taking carbide slag as a main raw material and Ca12Al14O33 as a support, highly active CO2 sorbents were prepared using the hydrothermal template method in this work. The effects of support ratio, cycle number, and reaction conditions were evaluated. The results show that Ca12Al14O33 generated effectively improves the cyclic stability of CO2 capture by synthetic sorbents. When the Al2O3 addition is 5%, or the Ca12Al14O33 content is 10%, the synthetic sorbent possesses the highest cyclic CO2 capture performance. Under harsh calcination conditions, the CO2 capture capacity of the synthetic sorbent after 30 cycles is 0.29 g/g, which is 80% higher than that of carbide slag. The superiority of t... [more]

This study determines and presents the capital and operating costs imposed by the use of CO2 capture technologies in the refining and petrochemical sectors. Depending on the refining process and the CO2 capture method, CO2 emissions costs of EUR 30 to 40 per ton of CO2 can be avoided. Advanced low-temperature CO2 capture technologies for upgrading oxyfuel reformers may not provide any significant long-term and short-term benefits compared to conventional technologies. For this reason, an analysis was performed to estimate the CO2 reduction potential for the oil and gas industries using short- and long-term ST/MT technologies, was arriving at a reduction potential of about 0.5−1 Gt/yr. The low cost of CO2 reduction is a result of the good integration of CO2 capture into the oil production process. The results show that advanced gasoline fraction recovery with integrated CO2 capture can reduce the cost of producing petroleum products and reduce CO2 emissions, while partial CO2 capture ha... [more]

Direct study of CO2 capture efficiency during microalgae Arthrospira platensis cultivation at high CO2 concentrations was carried out. Microalgae were grown in a 90 L photobioreactor on Zarrouk’s medium prepared with distilled water. Three 15-day experiments were carried out with different initial CO2 concentrations: 1, 5, and 9 vol.%. During the experiments, both the change in the optical density of the microalgae suspension and the direct change in the CO2 concentration in the chamber were measured. The maximum decrease in CO2 concentration due to the growth of microalgae was 0.10 vol.% (CO2)/day in the experiment with an initial CO2 concentration of 5 vol.%. Growth rate of biomass density was 79.4, 76.3, and 48.4 (mg/L)/day at 1, 5, and 9 vol.% CO2 concentrations, respectively. During the experiment with initial CO2 concentrations of 1 and 5 vol.%., pH of the culture medium was increased, but pH was decreased from 9.2 to 8.8 at 9 vol.%. In general, good viability (high quality of bi... [more]

This paper is devoted to improvement of environmental safety in hydrocarbon-firing TPPs. Despite the development of renewable power sources, the number of traditional power production facilities continues its growth. The toxic emission mitigation in traditional TPPs has been deeply investigated, but the problem of greenhouse gas atmospheric emissions is of topical interest. Oxy-fuel technology reduces CO2 emissions and is highly efficient and environmentally safe. Also, it requires relatively low capital investments. Thermal efficiency analysis shows that the Allam cycle facilities have the best efficiency. Their thermodynamic parameters can be optimized with minimal primary costs and capital investments. This newly developed analysis was used to compare the investment efficiency of projects for the buildup of oxy-fuel and combined cycle facilities. Without emission quote payments, the NPV of combined cycle projects is 16% higher, as well as having a lower DPP. The electricity producti... [more]

One of the alternatives to reduce CO2 emissions from industrial sources (mainly the oil and gas industry) is CO2 capture. Absorption with chemical solvents (alkanolamines in aqueous solutions) is the most widely used conventional technology for CO2 capture. Despite the competitive advantages of chemical solvents, the technological challenge in improving the absorption process is to apply alternative solvents, reducing energy demand and increasing the CO2 captured per unit of solvent mass. This work presents an experimental study related to the kinetic and thermodynamic analysis of high-pressure CO2 capture using ethylenediamine (EDA) as a chemical solvent. EDA has two amine groups that can increase the CO2 capture capacity per unit of solvent. A non-stirred experimental setup was installed and commissioned for CO2 capture testing. Tests of the solubility of CO2 in water were carried out to validate the experimental setup. CO2 capture testing was accomplished using EDA in aqueous soluti... [more]

This study investigated the effect of HCl in biomass gasification producer gas on the CO2 capture efficiency and contaminants removal efficiency by CaO-Fe2O3 based sorbent material in the calcium looping process. Experiments were conducted in a fixed bed reactor to capture CO2 from the producer gas with the combined contaminants of HCl at 200 ppmv, H2S at 230 ppmv, and NH3 at 2300 ppmv. The results show that with presence of HCl in the feeding gas, sorbent reactivity for CO2 capture and contaminants removal was enhanced. The maximum CO2 capture was achieved at carbonation temperatures of 680 °C, with efficiencies of 93%, 92%, and 87%, respectively, for three carbonation-calcination cycles. At this carbonation temperature, the average contaminant removal efficiencies were 92.7% for HCl, 99% for NH3, and 94.7% for H2S. The outlet contaminant concentrations during the calcination process were also examined which is useful for CO2 reuse. The pore structure change of the used sorbent materi... [more]