Thermodynamic evaluation of a Ca-Cu looping post-combustion CO2 capture system integrated with thermochemical recuperation based on steam methane reforming

Abstract

The calcium looping integrated with the chemical looping combustion (CaL-CLC) process is an efficient and cost-effective CO₂ capture technology that avoids the energy-intensive air separation unit in the calcium looping (CaL) process. However, in these CaL-CLC and CaL system integration schemes, the carbonation heat is utilized for steam generation, resulting a significant temperature difference and considerable irreversible loss. To prevent temperature mismatch, this paper proposes a novel Ca-Cu looping post-combustion CO₂ capture method with thermochemical recuperation based on steam methane reforming. Additionally, a novel system integrated with turbine exhaust heat recovery is introduced to effectively reduce carbon emissions from flue gas. Results show that the proposed system has superior performance compared to the reference system based on the Ca-Cu looping method. The specific primary energy consumption for CO₂ avoidance decreased from 2.40 MJ_LHV/kg CO₂ in the reference system to 2.02 MJ_LHV/kg CO₂. Exergy analysis indicates that a total of 3.0 % reduction in exergy destruction can be achieved in chemical reaction processes and heat recovery processes, contributing to the superior performance of the proposed system. Furthermore, the effects of key operating parameters indicate that cascaded turbine exhaust recovery is essential for improving the thermodynamic efficiency of the proposed system. Overall, recovering the mid-temperature carbonation heat via thermochemical regeneration and integrating with exhaust heat recovery contribute to reducing SPECCA, thus providing a promising low-energy-consumption alternative for CO₂ capture.