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Modeling and optimal design of multicomponent vacuum pressure swing adsorber for simultaneous separation of carbon dioxide and hydrogen from industrial waste gas

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Abstract

Adsorption processes are expected to play an important role in carbon dioxide capture, utilization and storage (CCUS). In particular, blast furnace gas (BFG) from the steel industry is one of the major sources of CO2 emissions, and reducing emissions from this source is a major challenge. BFG can be treated as valuable hydrogen (H2) source through water gas shift reactions, which may allow synthesis of methane and methanol if the purification of these two gases is possible. This study proposes and designs a new Vacuum Pressure Swing Adsorption (VPSA) process that consists of two tandem adsorption columns for simultaneous separation of H2 and CO2 from BFG. A mathematical model is developed to predict the performance of the proposed process. The model is fitted to the experimental data using a VPSA pilot plant, which were demonstrated to predict flow rates within an error of 6%. Furthermore, the model was used to perform multi-objective optimization to analyze trade-offs among throughput, energy consumption, CO2 purity, and recovery. Finally, we analyzed the optimal design and operating conditions such as pressure and column height.

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Abbreviations

ad ratio :

Ratio of adsorption time to desorption time [–]

C :

Total concentration [mol/m3]

C i :

Concentration of component i [mol/m3]

Cp g :

Heat capacity of gas [J/kg/K]

Cp s :

Heat capacity of solid [J/kg/K]

Cp w :

Wall heat capacity [J/kg/K]

De :

Effective diffusivity [m2/s]

D i,j :

Gas diffusivity [m2/s]

D p :

Adsorbent diameter [m]

D X :

Axial dispersion coefficient [m2/s]

D z :

Dispersion coefficient [m2/s]

E :

Energy consumption for a unit mole of recovered gas [kJ/mol]

E max :

Upper bound of energy consumption [kJ/mol]

Feed :

Total molar volume of gas that enters the VPSA [mol/m2]

F :

Feed inflow rate [NL/min]

F in :

Feed gas flow rate [NL/min]

Flow :

Flow rate from the column [NL/min]

h air :

Heat transfer coefficient of air [J/m2/s/K]

h i :

Heat transfer coefficient [J/m2/s/K]

K i :

Affinity constant of component i [bar−1]

K L :

Effective axial thermal coefficient [J/m/s/K]

L 1, L 2 :

Height of column 1 and 2 [m]

M :

Penalty constant

Mw i :

Molecular weight of component i [g/mol]

N Comp :

Number of components

P :

Total pressure [Pa]

P 1, P 2 :

Pressure of column 1 and column 2 [kPa]

P atm :

Atmospheric pressure [kPa]

P i :

Partial pressure of component i [bar]

P in :

Pressure of column inlet [Pa]

P ur min :

Lower bound of purity [%]

q 0i :

Saturation capacity [mol/kg]

q i :

Adsorption amount of component i [mol/kg]

q i*:

Adsorption amount of component i in the equilibrium state [mol/kg]

R :

Gas constant [J/k/mol]

R b :

Radius of the column [m]

R ec min :

Lower bound of recovery [%]

Re p :

Particle Reynolds number [−]

R p :

Adsorbent radius [m]

Si :

Set for step index [−]

t :

Time [s]

T air :

Air temperature [K]

t cy :

Cycle time [t]

T in :

Temperature of column inlet [K]

T wall :

Wall temperature [K]

u :

Superficial velocity [m/s]

U :

Overall heat transfer coefficient [J/m/s/K]

work ad :

Work of adsorption [kJ]

work de :

Work of desorption [kJ]

y i :

Mole fraction of component i [−]

z :

Coordinate in the axial direction [m]

α, β :

Parameters for approximation of pressure

γ :

Heat capacity ratio [−]

γ i, δ i :

Parameters used in the boundary conditions

ΔH i :

Adsorption enthalpy [J/mol]

ε 1, ε 2 :

Tolerance variables to enforce a cyclic steady state for column 1 and 2 [−]

ε b :

Bed void [−]

ε t :

Total void fraction [−]

η blower :

Efficiency of blower [−]

η pump :

Efficiency of pump [−]

θ :

Vector of parameters to be estimated

\({\theta }_{lit}\) :

Initial parameter value

λ ads :

Thermal conductivity of solid [J/m/s/K]

λ g :

Estimated thermal conductivity of gas [J/m/s/K]

λ wall :

Thermal conductivity of wall [J/m/s/K]

μ :

Viscosity [Pa s]

ρ :

Regularization coefficient [−]

ρ b :

Density of bed [kg/m3]

ρ g :

Density of gas [kg/m3]

ρ p :

Adsorbent density [kg/m3]

ρ w :

Wall density [kg/m3]

φ :

Vector of state variables

a d :

Adsorption

b l :

Blowdown

d e :

Desorption

exp :

Experimental value

l it :

Literature value

M odel :

Modeled value

p r :

Pressurization

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Acknowledgements

This article is based on results obtained from a project, JPNP16002, commissioned by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO).

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Funding was provided by New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (Grant Number JPNP16002).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Materials Process Engineering, Nagoya University, Nagoya, 464-8603, Japan

    Toji Kakiuchi, Tomoyuki Yajima & Yoshiaki Kawajiri

  2. Steel Research Laboratory, JFE Steel Corporation, 1 Kokan-Cho, Fukuyama, Japan

    Nobuyuki Shigaki

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Kakiuchi, T., Yajima, T., Shigaki, N. et al. Modeling and optimal design of multicomponent vacuum pressure swing adsorber for simultaneous separation of carbon dioxide and hydrogen from industrial waste gas. Adsorption 29, 9–27 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10450-022-00371-x

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