Abstract:
While amine absorption has been extensively researched, selecting the most suitable amine solvent for effective CO2 capture remains a significant challenge due to the complex criteria involved. This study proposes a comprehensive framework to address these challenges by integrating process simulation, design of experiments (DoE), and principal component analysis (PCA) for the selection of optimal amine solvents. The framework is validated through a case study of a CO2 capture process from a natural gas-fired power plant, comparing four types of amine solvents: MEA (30 wt%) as the benchmark, DEA (10, 20, 30, and 40 wt%), MDEA (10, 20, 30, and 40 wt%), and MDEA+PZ (30+5 and 30+10 wt%). PCA results indicate that MDEA+PZ 30+5 wt% and MDEA+PZ 30+10 wt% exhibit performance comparable to the benchmark solvent. Based on these findings, multi-objective optimization (MOO) is conducted to evaluate the economic viability of the selected amine candidates. Subsequently, all process information, including the economic assessment from the MOO, is consolidated into a comparison matrix that evaluates safety, environmental impacts, amine set-up cost, and CO2 capture cost. The results reveal that while MEA (30 wt%) offers the lowest amine set-up cost, MDEA+PZ outperforms MEA in terms of safety, environmental impact, and CO₂ capture cost. Specifically, MDEA+PZ 30+5 wt% demonstrates the lowest overall impact, while MDEA+PZ 30+10 wt% achieves the lowest CO2 capture cost.