Cost-effective solar-driven configurations for post-combustion carbon capture at Abadan Power Plant: MEA, DEA, and DGA absorption-based

Abstract

In recent years, post-combustion carbon capture (PCC) has garnered attention as a strategy to mitigate industrial emissions, though conventional configurations often face high energy demands. This study used Aspen HYSYS v11 to simulate and optimize various PCC configurations to enhance energy efficiency and reduce costs. The analysis compared three common amines monoethanolamine (MEA), diethanolamine (DEA), and diglycolamine (DGA) with DGA demonstrating the most significant energy savings. Utility costs, including steam, were approximately $101.3 million annually for DGA, compared to $158 million for MEA and $127.4 million for DEA. Among the configurations, lean vapor compression (LVC), rich vapor compression (RVC), solvent split flow (SSF), and rich recycle solvent (RSR), when combined, achieved the highest reduction in energy use, leading to about 45% cost savings over conventional setups. Replacing steam from a power plant with solar energy for the reboiler in this configuration provided additional savings, requiring 1.1 km² of solar area with 13 h of storage to achieve lifetime savings of roughly $295 million. Furthermore, exergy analysis revealed a 34.4% efficiency gain with the optimized configuration. Notably, implementing DGA reduced annual carbon taxes from $18.7 million to $2.8 million, underscoring the economic and environmental advantages of this approach.