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Design of a H2 PSA for cogeneration of ultrapure hydrogen and power at an advanced integrated gasification combined cycle with pre-combustion capture

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Abstract

A novel hydrogen pressure swing adsorption system has been studied that is applied to an advanced integrated gasification combined cycle plant for cogenerating power and ultrapure hydrogen (99.99+ mol%) with CO2 capture. In designing the H2 PSA, it is essential to increase the recovery of ultrapure hydrogen product to its maximum since the power consumption for compressing the H2 PSA tail gas up to the gas turbine operating pressure should be minimised to save the total auxiliary power consumption of the advanced IGCC plant. In this study, it is sought to increase the H2 recovery by increasing the complexity of the PSA step configuration that enables a PSA cycle to have a lower feed flow to one column for adsorption and more pressure equalisation steps. As a result the H2 recovery reaches a maximum around 93 % with a Polybed H2 PSA system having twelve columns and the step configuration contains simultaneous adsorption at three columns and four-stage pressure equalisation.

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Abbreviations

Ac :

Internal column surface area, m2

Ap :

Pellet surface area, m2

b ji :

Adsorption equilibrium constant of site j for comp. i, bar−1

b ji,0 :

Pre-exponential adsorption equilibrium constant coefficient of site j for comp. i, bar−1

ci :

Gas concentration of component i, mol m−3

c mi :

Gas concentration of component i in the macropore, mol m−3

cT :

Total gas concentration, mol m−3

\(c_{P,s}\) :

Specific heat capacity at constant pressure of the adsorbent, J kg−1 K−1

DL :

Axial mass dispersion coefficient, m2s−1

Dc :

Column diameter, m

Dm :

Molecular diffusivity, m2 s−1

Dp,i :

Macropore diffusivity of component i, m2 s−1

dp :

Pellet averaged diameter, m

hw :

Heat transfer coefficient at the column wall, W m−2 K−1

Hf :

Enthalpy in the fluid phase per unit volume, J m−3

\(\widetilde{H}_{i}\) :

Partial molar enthalpy in the fluid phase of component i, J mol−1

\(\varDelta \widetilde{H}_{i}^{j}\) :

Heat of adsorption of site j for component i, J mol−1

Ji :

Diffusive flux of component i, mol m−2 s−1

JT :

Thermal diffusive flux, W m−2

kg :

Gas conductivity, W m−1 K−1

k pi ·Ap/Vp :

LDF mass transfer coefficient of component i in the pellet, s−1

k cri ·3/rc :

LDF mass transfer coefficient of component i in the crystal, s−1

Lc :

Column length, m

Mads :

Adsorbent mass, kg

P:

Pressure, bar

Pr:

Prandtl number, [-]

\(\bar{q}_{i}\) :

Average adsorbed concentration of component i in the crystal, mol kg−1

q *i :

Adsorbed concentration of component i at equilibrium, mol kg−1

q ji,s :

Saturation capacity of site j for comp. i, mol kg−1

\(\bar{Q}_{i}\) :

Average adsorbed concentration of component i in the pellet, mol m−3

Qfeed :

Feed flow rate, mol s−1

R:

Ideal gas constant J mol−1 K−1

Re:

Reynolds number, [-]

rc :

Crystal radius, m

rp :

Pellet radius, m

Sc:

Schimdt number, [-]

t:

Time, s

tcycle :

Cycle time, s

T:

Temperature, K

Tf :

Fluid temperature, K

Tw :

Column wall temperature, K

u:

Velocity, m s−1

Uf :

Internal energy in the fluid phase per unit volume, J m−3

UP :

Internal energy in the pellet per unit volume, J m−3

UP,f :

Internal energy in the macropore per unit volume, J m−3

UP,s :

Internal energy in the solid phase per unit volume, J m−3

v:

Interstitial flow velocity, m s−1

Vc :

Column volume, m3

Vp :

Pellet volume, m3

xi, yi :

Molar fraction of component i, [-]

z:

Spatial dimension, m

ε:

External bed void fraction, [-]

εp :

Pellet void fraction, [-]

λL :

Axial thermal dispersion coefficient, W m−1 K−1

μ:

Viscosity, bar s

ρf :

Fluid density, kg m−3

ρp :

Pellet density, kg m−3

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Acknowledgments

We would like to express our gratitude for the financial support from KETEP (Grant No.: 2011-8510020030) and EPSRC (Grant Nos.: EP/F034520/1, EP/G062129/1, and EP/J018198/1).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Scottish Carbon Capture and Storage Centre, Institute for Materials and Processes, School of Engineering, The University of Edinburgh, Mayfield Road, Edinburgh, EH9 3JL, UK

    Mauro Luberti, Daniel Friedrich, Stefano Brandani & Hyungwoong Ahn

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  1. Mauro Luberti
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  2. Daniel Friedrich
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  3. Stefano Brandani
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  4. Hyungwoong Ahn
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Correspondence to Hyungwoong Ahn.

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Luberti, M., Friedrich, D., Brandani, S. et al. Design of a H2 PSA for cogeneration of ultrapure hydrogen and power at an advanced integrated gasification combined cycle with pre-combustion capture. Adsorption 20, 511–524 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10450-013-9598-0

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