Optimization of post combustion CO2 absorption system monoethanolamine (MEA) based for 320 MW coal-fired power plant application – Exergy and exergoenvironmental analysis

Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) technology which has been widely used, such as CO2 absorption system, still has environmental and energy issues. Further investigations should be carried out by understanding the causes of inefficiency in the system. Exergy and exergoenvironmental analysis are the method to describe the associated of each component in the system so that it can be optimized to produce optimum operating condition. A comprehensive study of coal fired power plant using CO2 absorption with MEA (monoethanolamine) solution is presented. This paper aims to optimize the CO2 absorption system by maximizing exergy and minimizing exergoenvironmental. Exhaust gas temperature, MEA molar flow rate, and reboiler duty on the regenerator are chosen as the decision variables. The results showed that, the optimum operating conditions of the three variables respectively are 90 °C, 2,500 kmol/h, and 9.14 MW. From the exergy and exergoenvironmental calculation results, the components which should be improved are heat exchangers, regenerators, and absorbers since they have minimum exergetic efficiency and have many byproducts given to the environment. This study can be the basis for maximizing the efficiency of the CO2 absorption system which has implications for reducing environmental impacts through optimization of components in the CCS system.