Recovery of CO2 from power plant flue gases using amines

Abstract In 1987, a 4 tonne per day CO 2 extraction pilot plant was constructed at the site of a pulverised coal electrical generating station in Saskatchewan, Canada. The pilot was designed to test the effectiveness of pre-conditioning flue gases for sulphur oxide removal to reduce amine degradation. The patented amines used in the pilot plant contained inhibitors to prevent corrosion and the loss of amine resulting from degradation by oxygen and other residual contaminants in the conditioned flue gas stream. In spite of the feed gas stream coming from a boiler with electrostatic precipitators, the level of fly ash necessitated scrubbing to avoid fouling and plugging in the sulphur oxide removal and CO 2 extraction units. The pilot itself was sized to provide the necessary engineering data to design a commercial scale facility. The economics of such a facility are currently being evaluated in a separate study.