Greenhouse Gas Capture
Mission
Statement
- The mission of this project was to develop a way to more efficiently scrub
carbon dioxide from the flue gas produced by coal fired powered plants
Synopsis
- A typical power plant
generates 3,700,000 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2), which is as
much carbon dioxide as cutting down 161 million trees. 54% of our
electricity comes from power plants. New ideas to reduce CO2
emission are being explored such as CO2 scrubbing. Currently, the
capture of CO2 is performed experimentally on a large scale by
absorption of CO2 onto various amine-based solvents. In this
project, TEPAN (ammonia based compound) is being used to scrub the CO2
out. The parameters for this experiment are simulated from a 500 megawatt
coal plant which burns 1.4 million tons of coal each year.
Experiment
consists of an apparatus that was built initially to test the scrubbing of
CO2 in a spacesuit. Same apparatus was modified for conducting
research and experiment to find the CO2 scrubbing capability of
amine sorbent beads (TEPAN) in a coal fired power plant’s flue gas
parameters. (High humidity, high temperature and high pressure). In order to
test how the CO2 reactor operated with the high water content of
flue gas, the gas stream was percolated through heated water.
In
the apparatus the gas stream mixture (CO2 + N2 +H2O)
is fed by two mass flow controllers and a humidifier. The volumetric flow
rate of this mixture is determined before they flow through the reactor and
at the exhaust. The exhaust CO2 is measured as a percentage of
the total flow rate. The difference between what is going into the system
and coming out of the systems is what is absorbed.
Continuing the research and coming up with better ways of scrubbing CO2
will be the focus of the research for the 2010-2011 academic year.
Participants and Affiliations:
Pankaj (PJ) Paneru, University of New Haven
Eugene Sung, University of Connecticut
Marcus Rich, Three Rivers Community College
Angeline Chiang,
University of Connecticut
