Book Description

Growing concerns over greenhouse gas emissions have driven extensive research in carbon capture, storage and sequestration. Oxy-fuel combustion is a promising technology in CO2 capture, as the combustion products consists primarily of CO2 and H2O with contaminants like NOx and SOx. More recently, oxy-fuel combustion under pressurized conditions has gained attention due to its overall higher net efficiency, while decreasing the auxiliary power consumption in the process. The need for a better understanding of the coal combustion in oxy-fuel conditions under elevated pressures and the formation of SOx and NOx in such conditions inspired this research project. In this thesis, the effect of pressurized oxy-fuel combustion on SOx and NOx formation from coal combustion and their removal from the flue gas was investigated. The combustion modelling for lignite coal was conducted in ANSYS Fluent, under oxy-fuel environment at atmospheric pressure and elevated pressures (5 atm, 10 atm, 15 atm). The results showed an increase in SO3 formation and rapid decrease in NO in the flue gas as the pressure was increased in the combustor. At 15 atm, the NOx emissions were found to be below 100 ppm, which is an acceptable concentration of NOx for CO2 transport and storage. In order to investigate the influence of pressure on SOx and NOx in the flue gas in the post-combustion zone, the system was subjected to a temperature profile representative of an actual plant boiler, where the residence time is around 2 seconds. The results showed that the rate of SO2 and NO oxidation to SO3 and NO2, respectively, were influenced by the rate of temperature decrease, and the effect of pressure was not as significant. It was observed that flue gas composition remained constant below 550 K, as all SO3 present in the flue gas converted to gaseous H2SO4. Lastly, simulations for SOx and NOx removal from flue gas via absorption were performed at 15 atm to purify the flue gas to meet the requirements for CO2 transportation. The results showed complete removal of SOx in the form of H2SO4 and SO42- and around 30% NOx removal, mostly in the form of HNO3. A sensitivity analysis was performed on the reflux ratio of liquid in the absorber and the results showed increased NOx removal at lower reflux ratio. The investigation helped conclude that pressurized oxy-fuel combustion results in lower SOx and NOx emissions, and require less sophisticated separation techniques to meet the pipeline threshold for CO2 transportation in storage and sequestration.