CO2 capture and utilization for production of precipitated calcium carbonate in a rotating packed bed: simultaneous design and control using distributed computing

Abstract

A novel design optimization approach is presented for the integrated CO₂ capture (CC) and utilization (CU) process design with simultaneous economic and controllability assessment. The CC process accounts for multiple solvents and process flowsheet options. The CU process targets the production of nano-sized precipitated calcium carbonate (PCC) using a rotating packed bed (RPB). The algorithm enables parallel computing and uses the approximate computing techniques of memoization and task dropping. It is implemented considering 20 alternative options for the CC process, as combinations of 4 solvents with 5 process flowsheet configurations. The tailored CU process is designed simultaneously with the aim to identify combinations that exhibit high economic performance both in steady state operation and under variability. The algorithm is tested in two case studies with different flue gas characteristics and different yearly operating scenarios, exhibiting excellent scalability in 100 parallel threads. The results showed that 2-(2-hydroxyethylamino) ethanol (DEA) is the optimal choice in both case studies. An absorber with intercooling (ICA) increased the driving forces in the CC process and led to better performance in both cases. The optimal design in the case of higher CO₂ content in the flue gas involved a double-side stripper (DSS) for solvent regeneration.