CO2 CATCH-UP PROJECT CHARACTERISTICS

The new aspects of the CO2 capture application to IGCCs have forced Nuon to take steps towards better understanding the nuances of the technology and to mitigate technical risks by first studying the concept in a pilot project called CO2 Catch!up"# $s such% the &uggenum plant is a perfect location# The pilot is a simplified% smaller version of the CO2 capture unit planned for the Nuon 'agnum IGCC unit at (emshaven% designed to treat )#* per cent of the syngas produced by the main power plant and to capture appro+imately ,) kt per annum of CO2# The overall project objective is to generate knowledge and tools in order to better design Nuon 'agnum and future IGCC plants with CO2 capture% with a strong focus on efficiency improvement# $part from the improved design process% the pilot plant will allow for operator training and evaluating operating procedures and strategies# It will also help to predict the maintenance re-uirements of future full!scale plants and help in preparation of a maintenance approach# $s there is no suitable reservoir in the vicinity of &uggenum% the CO2 released from the solvent is compressed and mi+ed together with the hydrogen!rich stream emerging from the top of the absorber# It is then fed back to the .illem!$le+ander power plant to the syngas line and then to the gas turbine# $fter the pilot plant /see 0igure ,1 is commissioned in $ugust 2),)% a new phase of the project starts2 plant operation and research% which is foreseen to last ,* months# The research programme is carried out by Nuon together with 3elft 4niversity of Technology /T4 3elft1% (nergy 5esearch Centre of the Netherlands /(CN1 and 6('$#

0igure ,# 7isualisation of the newly built Nuon 'agnum IGCC plant in (emshaven#

PROCESS DESCRIPTION
The plant consists of five sections2 syngas conditioning% water!gas shift% condensate recovery% CO2 absorption and solvent regeneration% and CO2 compression /see 0igure 21# The syngas slip!

stream is taken from the main syngas line downstream of the 829 removal /9ulfinol1 unit and upstream of the saturator in the .illem!$le+ander plant#

0igure 2# 9implified process flow diagram of the CO2 Catch!up pilot plant The critical components% the water!gas shift section and the CO2 absorption and regeneration section% are essentially identical to those of the full!scale plant# The pilot plant% however% does not include the heat integration of the full!scale plant# 9yngas conditioning section2 In the first section% the syngas is treated to bring it up to the specification re-uired by the water!gas shift section% i#e# traces of 9ulfinol solvent are removed in a water wash column% then the desired ratio of 82O2CO in the syngas is set by injecting reaction water to the stream% and finally the temperature is increased to the level re-uired for the shift reaction# The water is injected in a li-uid form and subse-uently evaporated# The heat is supplied with electric heaters instead of heat e+changers% as they would be applied in a full!scale plant% and the reactor effluent is cooled with forced!draft air coolers and cooling water# In this way the dependency of two streams /feed!effluent1 is avoided and the precise control of temperature is possible# This simplifies the operation% e+tends operational fle+ibility and avoids process fluctuations that could influence the reliability of several tests# .ater!gas shift section2 In the water!gas shift section the CO contained in the syngas feed is converted into CO2 in catalytic reactors# The following e+othermal chemical reaction takes place between 82O and CO in the gas phase2

$lthough the reaction in theory is e-uimolar% an e+cess of water vapour is needed for forcing e-uilibrium to the right of the e-uation and preventing catalyst deactivation by limiting the adiabatic temperature rise and hotspots# It also prevents coke formation% which catalyses a 0ischer!Tropsch reaction and reduces catalyst strength# The water!gas shift reactor configuration is maintained as in the full!scale design with three reactors in series and a gas -uench after the first reactor# The reactors were designed for the same inlet and outlet temperatures% 82O2CO ratio and space velocity as the full!scale plant# They are filled with an iron o+ide catalyst typical for high temperature shift# Condensate recovery section2 In the condensate recovery section the shifted syngas is cooled down to condense the e+cess water in a li-uids separator# The condensate is then recycled as reaction water to the syngas conditioning section# CO2 absorption and solvent regeneration2 The shifted syngas is subse-uently introduced to the CO2 absorption and solvent regeneration section# 0irst% the shifted syngas is compressed in a booster compressor to overcome the pressure drop over the upstream units bringing syngas back to the initial pressure# Then the stream is cooled and fed to the CO2 absorber where in contact with a physical solvent% i#e# dimethyl ether polyethylene glycol /3(:(G1% CO2 is removed% resulting in hydrogen;rich gas# In the absorber design process% one needs to account for separation efficiency and hydrodynamic behaviour /flooding% pressure drop1# The pilot plant is designed for the same number of theoretical stages as the full!scale plant# 9ince the full!scale tower would be too large for the pilot% it was decided to use a finer packing to achieve the same separation efficiency and reduce the height# The packing should also be suitable for the high li-uid loads typical for CO2 separation using 3(:(G# CO2 is recovered by depressuri<ation of the rich solvent using three flash drums connected in series# The flash vessels operate at the same pressures as in the full!scale plant% with the e+ception of omitting a CO2 recycle stream from the first flash drum to the top of the absorber# It still contains some combustible components that normally should be recovered# The stream composition is analysed though and it is mi+ed with other CO2 streams from the second and third flash vessels# CO2 compression section2 The CO2 is released at atmospheric pressure in the solvent regeneration system and needs to be compressed in the CO2 compression section in order to feed it back to the power plant# 0or that purpose an electric!motor!driven two!stage reciprocating compressor is used with an intermediate water cooler% which is fundamentally different from the multi!stage integrally!geared centrifugal compressor foreseen for the large!scale application# The

resulting CO2 product is mi+ed together with the hydrogen;rich gas from the top of the absorber and fed back to the main syngas line of the .illem!$le+ander plant# Instrumentation and analy<ers2 9ince the main objective of the project is to generate knowledge in the form of useful data% which in turn is used to develop state!of!the!art tools that can be applied in the design process% e+tensive instrumentation is installed throughout the pilot plant# $ large number of flow% temperature and pressure meters allow for automatically composing a full mass and energy balance# $ number of gas chromatography analy<ers measure CO% CO2% 82% 82O% N2% 829 and CO9 in the key points of the installation# Gas phase as well as li-uid phase samples are measured# $part from automatic composition measurements% the plant is also e-uipped with manual sample! taking points to measure trace elements and organic by!products in gas and li-uid streams#