Computational Modelling and Optimisation of Carbon Capture Reactors

该计划是为了响应EPSRC关于“天然气发电站的碳捕获和封存”的号召，在南安普顿大学和E.ON之间建立密切的合作伙伴关系。拟议的研究通过与工业合作伙伴开发适用于商业天然气发电厂的CCS技术的现有活动相结合，将重点放在工业需求上。意昂发电约占英国发电量的10%，并承诺到2030年将二氧化碳排放量减少50%(1990年基准)。E.ON已经建立了一个专门的CCS部门来应对技术挑战，而优先事项之一是开发适用于天然气发电站的CCS技术。这项研究专门针对二氧化碳浓度较低的天然气发电厂。与燃煤电厂的13%相比，这一比例为4%，而且更难提取，这对CCS来说是最具挑战性的情况。碳捕获和存储涉及将二氧化碳从排放中分离出来，以便将其运输和存储在远离大气的地方。安装在天然气发电厂的最具商业可行性的方法是燃烧后捕集器，它使用化学反应-也称为洗涤-从烟道气中吸收二氧化碳，E.ON一直在积极探索，并将成为这项研究的重点。虽然对化学过程的研究已经进行了几十年，但对反应器的CFD建模是最近的发展。E.ON已经认识到，通过将更多的CFD研究纳入他们未来的研究战略，CFD在优化现有的CCS反应堆方面发挥着至关重要的作用。南安普顿大学是基于CFD的研究的主要场所，而工程科学学院目前拥有500万GB的CFD重点EPSRC项目。这些专业知识的结合形成了强大的学术和行业合作伙伴关系，以解决目前使用先进的CFD模型在碳捕获方面扩大反应堆规模的障碍。通过应对EPSRC Call中概述的所有挑战，本研究旨在使用新的CFD建模方法设计一种优化的反应堆，该方法能够实现超过90%的二氧化碳吸收，同时确保服务能源成本降至最低至35%以下。新的概念概念将包括改进的混合设计和改进的传热，同时缩小反应堆的尺寸。通过对现有CFD多相模型的改进，将反应和流动控制装置纳入其中，可以找到一种最佳的规整填料布置，既能促进反应过程，又能减少压降。该项目不仅将产生通过增强CFD方法开发的概念想法，还将在实验室规模的反应堆中进行测试，以确定其流动动力学的有效性，并可能导致知识产权的产生。

This programme is proposed to answer the EPSRC call on "Carbon capture and storage for natural gas power stations" by forming a close partnership between the University of Southampton and E.ON. The proposed research has a strong focus on industrial needs by integrating with the industrial partner's existing activities for developing CCS technologies suitable for commercial gas power plants. E.ON is generating around 10% of the UK's electricity and is committed to reducing its CO2 emission by 50% by 2030 (1990 baseline). E.ON has setup a dedicated CCS unit to address the technical challenges while one of the priorities is to develop CCS technologies suitable for natural gas power stations. This research specifically targets at natural gas power plants, which has a lower concentration of CO2 approx. 4% compared to 13% from coal-fired plants, and harder to extract, representing the most challenging case for CCS.Carbon capture and storage involves separating the CO2 from emissions so it can be transported and stored away from the atmosphere. The most commercially viable approach to be fitted in natural gas power plants is the post-combustion capture which absorbs CO2 from the flue gas using a chemical reaction - also known as scrubbing, which E.ON has been actively pursuing and will be the focus of this research. Whilst research on the chemical processes has been taking place for several decades, CFD modelling of the reactor is a recent development. E.ON has recognised that CFD plays a vital role in the optimisation of current CCS reactors by including more CFD research in their future research strategy. University of Southampton is a prime place for CFD based research while the School of Engineering Sciences currently holds £5M CFD focused EPSRC projects. The combined expertise forms a strong academic and industrial partnership to tackle current barriers of reactor scale-up in carbon capture using advanced CFD models. By addressing all the challenges outlined in the EPSRC call, this research aims to design an optimised reactor using a novel CFD modelling approach that is capable of achieving in excess of 90% CO2 absorption whilst ensuring the cost of service energy is minimised to below 35%. The new concept idea will incorporate improved mixing designs and improved heat transfer whilst reducing reactor size. It is planned through the enhancement of current CFD multiphase models to incorporate reaction and the inclusion of flow control devices that an optimal structured packing arrangement, which promotes the reaction process whilst reducing pressure drop, can be found. This project will not only produce conceptual ideas developed through enhance CFD methods but will also perform tests, in a lab-scale reactor, to determine its validity with respect to its flow dynamics and would potentially lead to the production of intellectual property.