HEN optimization for efficient retrofitting of coal-fired power plants with post-combustion carbon capture

This study aims at reducing the energy penalty burdened by integration of pulverized coal-fired power plants with solvent-based post-combustion carbon capture (PCC) processes via heat exchanger network (HEN) optimization. The base case used is a 300MWe coal-fired power plant burning pulverized black coal and emitting 256 tonnes/h of CO₂. Integration of the base case with PCC showed that achieving 90% CO₂ capture with purity of 99% using 30 wt% monoethanolamine (MEA) solvent admits an energy penalty of 19.4% to the overall plant output. Pinch analysis showed that a reduction in the mentioned energy penalty down to 15.9% can be achieved via integration.