Carbon Dioxide Absorber And Regeneration Assemblies Useful For Power Plant Flue Gas
First Claim
1. A species transfer system for transferring at least one species from an inlet stream having a first concentration of the species, to a controlled species outlet stream, comprising:
- an absorber assembly having an inlet for the inlet stream and an outlet for a lean species stream having a second concentration of the species being lower than the first concentration of the species of the inlet stream;
sorbent located in the absorber assembly to capture at least a portion of the species from the inlet stream, and becoming at least partially spent sorbent upon species capture;
a regeneration assembly having an inlet, and an outlet for the controlled species outlet stream; and
the at least partially spent sorbent located in the regeneration assembly releasing at least a portion of the captured species from the absorber assembly to the controlled species outlet stream;
wherein the species transfer system can effectively handle an inlet stream flow rate of at least approximately 11,500 ft3/sec; and
wherein the species transfer system provides 90% species capture, such that the lean species stream has less than approximately 10% of the species concentration of the inlet stream.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Disclosed are apparatus and method to treat large amounts of flue gas from a pulverized coal combustion power plant. The flue gas is contacted with solid sorbents to selectively absorb CO2, which is then released as a nearly pure CO2 gas stream upon regeneration at higher temperature. The method is capable of handling the necessary sorbent circulation rates of tens of millions of lbs/hr to separate CO2 from a power plant'"'"'s flue gas stream. Because pressurizing large amounts of flue gas is cost prohibitive, the method of this invention minimizes the overall pressure drop in the absorption section to less than 25 inches of water column. The internal circulation of sorbent within the absorber assembly in the proposed method not only minimizes temperature increases in the absorber to less than 25° F., but also increases the CO2 concentration in the sorbent to near saturation levels. Saturating the sorbent with CO2 in the absorber section minimizes the heat energy needed for sorbent regeneration. The commercial embodiments of the proposed method can be optimized for sorbents with slower or faster absorption kinetics, low or high heat release rates, low or high saturation capacities and slower or faster regeneration kinetics.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A species transfer system for transferring at least one species from an inlet stream having a first concentration of the species, to a controlled species outlet stream, comprising:
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an absorber assembly having an inlet for the inlet stream and an outlet for a lean species stream having a second concentration of the species being lower than the first concentration of the species of the inlet stream; sorbent located in the absorber assembly to capture at least a portion of the species from the inlet stream, and becoming at least partially spent sorbent upon species capture; a regeneration assembly having an inlet, and an outlet for the controlled species outlet stream; and the at least partially spent sorbent located in the regeneration assembly releasing at least a portion of the captured species from the absorber assembly to the controlled species outlet stream; wherein the species transfer system can effectively handle an inlet stream flow rate of at least approximately 11,500 ft3/sec; and wherein the species transfer system provides 90% species capture, such that the lean species stream has less than approximately 10% of the species concentration of the inlet stream. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A species transfer system for transferring CO2 from the flue gas of a power plant having a first concentration of CO2, to a CO2 rich gas stream, comprising:
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an absorber assembly having an inlet for the flue gas and an outlet for a CO2 lean gas stream having a second concentration of CO2 being lower than the first concentration of CO2 of the flue gas; sorbent located in the absorber assembly to capture at least a portion of the CO2 from the flue gas, and becoming at least partially spent sorbent upon CO2 capture; a regeneration assembly having an inlet, and an outlet for the CO2 rich gas stream; and the at least partially spent sorbent located in the regeneration assembly releasing at least a portion of the captured CO2 from the absorber assembly to the CO2 rich gas stream; wherein the species transfer system can effectively handle a flue gas flow rate of at least approximately 11,500 ft3/sec; and wherein the species transfer system provides 90% CO2 capture, such that the CO2 lean gas stream has less than approximately 10% of the CO2 concentration of the flue gas. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14)
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15. A system for contacting power plant flue gas with solid sorbent to absorb CO2 from the flue gas comprising:
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an absorber assembly to remove portions of CO2 from the flue gas comprising; an absorber riser having sorbent, wherein the flue gas comes in contact with the sorbent to form at least partially spent sorbent, and wherein the sorbent and gas flow velocity in the absorber riser is in the range of approximately 10 to 40 ft/sec; an internally circulating fluidized bed (ICFB) in communication with the absorber riser, wherein the flowing flue gas comes in contact with additional sorbent; a gravity disengagement and baghouse filtration system in communication with the internally circulating fluidized bed to separate particles of the at least partially spent sorbent from the flue gas that has become progressively leaner of CO2 before the lean CO2 gas stream exits the absorber assembly; and a sorbent return leg to return sorbent from the gravity disengagement and baghouse filtration system to the absorber riser; a seal pot acting as a non-mechanical valve; and a regeneration assembly to regenerate at least a portion of the at least partially spent sorbent and release captured CO2 into a CO2 rich gas stream, the regeneration assembly comprising; a fluidized bed regenerator where the at least partially spent sorbent is heated to drive off captured CO2 into the CO2 rich gas stream, and where the regenerated sorbent is then cooled; and a regeneration return leg to return the regenerated and cooled sorbent back to the absorber assembly. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification