Techno-economic analysis of advanced stripper configurations for post-combustion CO₂ capture amine processes

In chemical absorption processes for carbon capture, one of the main technical challenges is to overcome its high energy requirement for solvent regeneration. A techno-economic analysis was conducted on various modified carbon capture processes using a 30 wt% monoethanolamine (MEA) solvent. Five configurations of a stripper modified with two or more components of lean vapor compression (LVC), cold solvent split (CSS), and stripper overhead compression (SOC) were designed. Each configuration aimed to reduce the total equivalent work (W_total) via heat integration between the condenser and reboiler. The performance was compared with those of conventional and single-modified configurations based on 90% carbon capture from a coal-fired power plant. Compared with the reference results of a pilot plant operation, the thermal energy required from a reboiler could be reduced by 8.1–32.8% through the modified configurations. The developed combined configurations suggested that the W_total could be reduced by up to 9.0%, and the operating cost could be saved by up to 10.2%. Although an increase in capital costs is inevitable for process modifications, the advanced configurations can be considered as an alternative to the reference process because energy and operating costs are reduced.