Design methodology of absorption process (use of MEA absorbent) based on self-heat recuperation technology

A chemical absorption process is the most commercially used process for CO ₂ separation in flue gases. However, the process needs a huge amount of energy to strip CO ₂ in a stripper. To overcome this problem, a new gas separation process using chemical absorption method based on self-heat recuperation technology is proposed for energy saving. The regeneration energy of absorbent is provided from the exhausted heat of absorber and stripper by using a compressor and heat exchangers. The process is divided into two modules (absorber and stripper), in which the internal heat circulation is maximized. The process is then reconstructed by combining these modules. The energy consumption of the proposed process decreased to one-sixth at that of conventional heat recovery process. Thus, the process is a very promising process for energy saving of gas separation. This is an abstract of a paper presented at the 7th European Congress of Chemical Engineering-7 and 19th International Congress of Chemical and Process Engineering CHISA (Prague, Czech Republic 8/28/2010-9/1/2010).