What is CCS?

CCS refers to the term "Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage". CCS involves capturing carbon dioxide from fossil fuels, either before or after combustion, and storing it in geological or oceanic reservoirs. Reservoirs include depleted natural gas fields, deep saline formations and un-mineable coal seams.

What is EOR?

EOR refers to the term "Enhanced Oil Recovery". EOR is implemented to yield additional oil from existing fields that are no longer producing under conventional means. Captured CO2 is strategically injected into the oil field to displace the remaining oil and allow for it to be extracted to the surface.

What is the HTC Purenergy CCS Plant for CO2 capture?

The HTC Purenergy CCS Plant for CO2 Capture is a modular design for capturing different industrial sources of CO2 emission. The basic design includes a flue gas conditioning system, a CO2 absorption system and a solvent recovery system. CO2 compression and dehydration for transmission of the captured CO2 are added on as modules downstream from the HTC Purenergy CCS Plant.

How can CO2 be captured?

There are three main techniques for capturing CO2:

1. Post-combustion capture
2. Pre-combustion capture
3. Oxy-fuel combustion

Amine based CO2 capture technology offered by HTC Purenergy is suitable for both pre and post combustion capture.

What technologies are utilized for carbon dioxide capture?

Depending on the flue gas conditions (temperature, pressure, volume, composition) and the desired end-use for CO2 after capture (purity required), there are five main technologies available for capturing CO2:

1. Physical solvent scrubbing
2. Chemical solvent scrubbing
3. Adsorption/desorption
4. Membrane separation
5. Cryogenic separation

Which is the most applicable technology for the bulk removal of carbon dioxide from thermal power plant exhaust flue gas?

Thermal power plants emit large quantities of flue gas containing 3-15 mole% CO2. Currently the most favourable CO2 capture process is chemical solvent scrubbing due to maturity of the technology, cost-effective capture, no technology risk, ease of scalability and ease of integration with new or existing power plants.

Is there a commercial scale reference plant for chemical solvent scrubbing technology?

Several facilities exist which use amine-based chemical scrubbing to capture CO2. For thermal power plants, the largest has a capacity of 800 tonnes/day using two parallel trains.

What are the industrial sources of CO2 emission?

Sources of global emission of CO2 are classified into four major sectors: Power generation (35-45%), industrial processes (18-20%), transportation sector (24-25%), residential and commercial buildings (14-15%). Major categories of industrial processes include:

1. Cement production
2. Iron and steel production
3. Oil refining
4. Hydrogen and ammonia production
5. Natural gas purification

Is HTC's technology applicable for carbon dioxide capture from various industrial sources?

Yes. HTC uses amine-based technology which is a favourable technology to treat large volumes of flue gas at low CO2 partial pressure. HTC has over 15 years of collaborative experience in CO2 capture technology in association with the University of Regina and the International Test Center for CO2 Capture.

How much steam is required to capture one tonne of CO2?

Steam consumption depends on the flue gas conditions, composition and utility constraints. Based on pilot and demonstration plant results, steam consumption in the range of 0.9 to 1.2 tonne steam/tonne CO2 can be achieved with our proprietary TKO™ technology and formulated solvents.

What is HTC's RS™ and TKO™ technology?

CO2 capture requires heat and energy. In general, this heat and energy is taken from the CO2 emitters existing facilities unless it has been accounted for in a retrofit or new-build design. In the case of an existing power plant, the addition of CO2 capture generally reduces the overall efficiency and therefore, the most cost-effective method of CO2 removal must be employed. Regina Solvent, RS™, is a family of formulated solvents developed at the International Test Center for CO2 capture (ITC) in conjunction with the University of Regina. These formulated solvents provide the most cost-effective means of CO2 removal from large volumes of a gas feed stream. Thermal-Kinetics Optimization, TKO™, is an amine plant process configuration patented by ITC that significantly reduces the energy required to capture CO2. RS-2™ and TKO™ reduce the heat and energy requirements thereby reducing the parasitic load on the emitter, or the overall cost of operation.

Does HTC offer economic evaluation of amine plants?

Yes. HTC offers economic evaluation of amine plants. HTC's experience in design, operation and optimization of amine plants is backed by the power of a proprietary economic model engine that is the basis of the economic evaluation. By modelling an existing process/facility both technically and operationally, HTC can provide a comprehensive economic evaluation of any amine-based operation.