Computer Modeling and Dynamic Control of Post Combustion Carbon Capture Process Associated with Solar Power System

Abstract

CO2 emissions have become a serious issue in the industry because CO2 endangers the planet and is one of the primary causes of climate change. The objective of this thesis is to conduct a dynamic control for the post-combustion carbon capture process, which is combined with a solar power system (parabolic trough solar collectors). The dynamic simulation was performed using Aspen Plus Dynamic software. Besides that, a rigorous design was initially performed using Aspen Plus software. This thesis investigated two cases: the low-pressure steam-based case and the PTC (Parabolic Trough Collector) combination case. At steady-state design, the CO2 capture process is capable of removing up to 89.4 w% of CO2 with a specific reboiler energy of 4.64 GJ/tonnes CO2. More importantly, the control structure was designed to use DNI (Direct Normal Irradiance) data during the day to cover the duty of the reboiler in combination with the low-pressure steam energy. The economic comparative analysis shows a reduction in the operating cost in the PTC combination case. In contrast, the capital cost showed an increase when using PTC. Moreover, a life-cycle assessment that measures the environmental impacts in both scenarios was conducted using SimaPro software. The PTC combination case showed a preferable environmental impact in all the measured categories compared to the steam-based case.