Performance and economic viability assessment of a novel CO₂ adsorbent for manufacturing and integration with coal power plants

Here, this study assesses the performance and economic feasibility of a novel CO₂ adsorbent for post-combustion capture in DOE/NETL’s 650 MWnet SubC PC power plant (case B11B). Bench-scale tests showed an initial adsorption capacity of 16.3 wt%, which decreased to 12.1 wt% after 41 adsorption–desorption cycles due to induced particle aggregation by over-humidification. With a conservative adsorption capacity of 8.8 wt% and 695 adsorption–desorption cycles, an adsorbent replenishment rate of 10 tonnes/h is necessary to capture 90% of CO₂. The breakeven sale price of the adsorbent produced at this rate is $\$$1,293/tonne, which is 40 to 80 times lower than prices for K₂CO₃ adsorbents reported in the literature (e.g., K₂CO₃/TiO₂, K₂CO₃/ZrO₂) while providing better capture performances. Sensitivity analysis reveals that increasing the plant production rate from 10 to 40 tonnes/h reduces the sale price by 8%. The study also compares the CO₂ capture cost to Cansolv, an integrated solvent-based technology. The novel adsorbent requires 2.4 GJ/tonne of CO₂ for regeneration, lower than Cansolv’s 2.7 GJ/tonne. With conservative performance estimates, the capture cost is $\$$54/tonne of CO₂, slightly higher than Cansolv’s $\$$45/tonne. To achieve lower or comparable capture costs to Cansolv, the adsorbent should meet one of the following conditions at a commercial scale: minimum 950 cycles, 16 wt% capture capacity, 50% of the adsorbent recovery, or a reduced cost to $\$$646/tonne by upscaling the manufactury to 75 tonnes/h.. Authors: Bellal, Abdelmalek [Univ. of North Dakota, Grand Forks, ND (United States)]; Hou, Xiaodong [Univ. of North Dakota, Grand Forks, ND (United States)] (ORCID:000000017794979X); Nasah, Junior [Univ. of North Dakota, Grand Forks, ND (United States)] (ORCID:0009000480841332); Van der Watt, Johannes [Univ. of North Dakota, Grand Forks, ND (United States)]; Laudal, Daniel [Univ. of North Dakota, Grand Forks, ND (United States)]. Subjects: 01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT; High capacity; Low adsorbent cost; Low capture cost; Low regeneration energy