Compression Applications for Carbon Reduction

Abstract

A In the context of carbon reduction efforts, discussions evolve around hydrogen compression, as well as compression requirements related to CO2 capture, transportation and sequestration. In this paper, compression requirements for these applications are discussed. The use and creation of hydrogen imposes specific questions on the use of centrifugal compressors. These questions involve the requirement to compress hydrogen for significant pressure ratios, and the impact of transporting hydrogen in pipelines, or by other means. Part of the discussion is also the location of blue hydrogen production versus green hydrogen production, based on the fact that transport of CO2 or natural gas requires less energy than the transport of hydrogen. Further, carbon sequestration by capturing, transporting and sequestering CO2 from the exhaust of fossil fired power plants, from the generation of blue hydrogen, or the generation of Ammonia is discussed. Compression duties include the compression from capture pressure to pipeline pressure, the boost compression as part of the pipeline transport, and the compression required to sequester the CO2. Issues addressed in this part include the relative effort required based on the CO2 concentration in the exhaust, and methods to compress CO2 and CO2 mixtures from close to atmospheric pressure to pipeline pressure. In this discussion, the option of transporting hydrogen to a power plant versus transporting natural gas to said power plant, and transporting captured CO2 back to a sequestration site, is evaluated, and the conclusion is supported with data.