A High Pressure Carbon Dioxide Separation Process for IGCC Plants

Under separate contracts from the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Fossil Energy (DOEFE), Los Alamos National Laboratory, and a team of SIMTECHE and Nexant (a Bechtel Technology and Consulting Company) are jointly working to develop the proprietary process for capturing carbon dioxide (CO2) from a shifted syngas stream (a mixture of mostly carbon dioxide and hydrogen) prior to combustion in an IGCC plant. This innovative approach, using the proprietary SIMTECHE Process, separates CO2 from the shifted syngas with water at lower temperature than those in the existing absorption and adsorption approaches. The initial phase (18 months) of this four-phase, sixty six-month program consists of analytical and theoretical research and development studies as well as engineering analysis, both to further assess the efficiency and economic benefits of the SIMTECHE process and to better understand the microand macro-scale physics of the processes involved. The second phase (21 months) will consist of further laboratory-scale tests, which will be performed in parallel with the design and fabrication of a skid-mounted pilot plant. The third phase (15 months) will consist of laboratoryscale and pilot plant tests to further establish the proof-of-concept and to provide detailed design and operating data in preparation for pilot plant field tests. In the final phase (12 months), the pilot plant will be decommissioned and relocated to an existing IGCC power plant for final process evaluation with the shifted syngas from an industrial operating gasifier.