In the last years strong efforts were made to develop CO2 capture technologies to reduce the CO2 emissions from coal-fired power plants, with regard to the CO2-reduction targets of 20 % by 2020, in Europe.
The high temperature Calcium Looping (CaL) process is one of the most promising technologies with a 97% CO2 capture efficiency already experimentaly demonstrated in Bench-scale Dual Fluidized Bed systems.
In the following schema a general implementation of the process is presented.
The EU-RFCS funded CAL MOD project aim is to bring the CaL process for post-combustion CO2 capture forward to commercial scale mainly through the development of advanced simulation tools for industrial process application.
Issues of sorbent attrition, sulphation and reactivation are assessed. Kinetic parameters are incorporated to a sorbent model, providing the basis for the CFD carbonator, regenerator models.
CFD models are validated against bench-scale experimentation results. Their input will be used for a process and steam cycle model regarding reference plants and leading to design rules. Synergy with the cement industry is beneficial.
A techno-economic analysis and basic engineering of such systems will bring the process close to commercialization.
The results from this project will bring forward a new technology for post-combustion CO2-capture that offers a highly efficient and low cost-alternative to other existing scrubbing technologies like amine scrubbing. The success of all modelling and simulation tools addressed in this project, is a pre-requisite for safe and secure design of commercial scale plants.