Application of Transformational UKy 3 Ton/day CO2 Capture System at A Steel Process Plant

DE-FE0002187 Application of Transformational UKy 3 Ton/day CO2 Capture System at A Steel Process Plant Recipient University of Kentucky Research Foundation (UKRF) on behalf of the University of Kentucky Center for Applied Energy Research (UK CAER) Investigators Kunlei Liu (PI); Heather Nikolic (PI) and Gordon Elwell(Co-Investigators) Project Partners Electric Power Research Institute and Nucor Steel Other Major Participants ALL4 Project Objectives: The project goal is to continue using the Department of Energy funded 0.7 MWe small-pilot CO2 capture system (CCS) to process the flue gas evolved from steel making process at Nucor Steel’s Gallatin Plant, KY. To address operating challenge associated with the low CO2 concentration (~2 vol%), four objectives will be met: 1) Discretized packing with Sulzer advanced low liquid to gas mass flow ratio MellapackCCTM structured packing will demonstrate robust wettability for various solvent physical properties and a controlled absorber temperature profile to enhance mass transfer; 2) Advanced stripping with a split-rich feed will result in ~25% reboiler steam savings. Two-phase flow with ~5% vapor phase, is fed to the middle of the stripper acting as a second source of carrier gas for CO2 stripping; 3) A model-based feed-forward process control strategy with in-line solvent performance characterization will reduce reboiler specific duty during cyclic operation and dynamic ambient conditions; 4) Techno-economic analysis, technology maturation plan and environmental, health and safety assessment. Impact: Successful development of the technology will have a multitude of public benefits including continued domestic carbon steel production, while managing environmental concerns affordably. This will result in four major outcomes: 1) A cost-effective approach to capture CO2 from scrap metal re-process to apply to any advanced solvent, any low CO2 streams from various industrial processes and NGCC generating units; 2) Extending individual key technologies to a spectrum of problems associated with CO2 separation, such as mass transfer enhancement and steam reduction; 3) An advanced control scheme that maintains target CO2 capture efficiency while continually minimizing regeneration energy. Testing of and data collected from this engineering scale will provide a clear path for commercial deployment of CO2 capture from industrial sectors. 1