Master thesis proposal: Process Evaluation of flue gas
treatment for pressurized oxy-fuel combustion
systems
This is an opportunity for 1 or 2 students to work on a Master Thesis (described below) at the
Division of Energy Technology within the Combustion and Carbon Capture Technologies group.
We are interested in chemical or mechanical engineering master students with knowledge in
process simulation.
Please contact Sima Ajdari or Fredrik Normann at Energy Technology (Energiteknik) if you are
interested:
Sima Ajdari: 031-772 1434, sima.ajdari@chalmers.se
Fredrik Normann: 031-772 1486, fredrik.normann@chalmers.se
Background
Growing concerns over greenhouse gas emissions have driven extensive research into new
power generation cycles that enable carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS). The aim of CCS
processes is to produce a CO2 product stream from combustion. Pressurized oxy-fuel
combustion is a new CCS technology that has drawn significant attention since it achieves higher
efficiencies than atmospheric systems. In this process fuel is burned in an environment of
oxygen and flue gases under pressure. The resulting flue gas contains mainly carbon dioxide and
water vapor in addition to nitrogen oxides (NOx) and sulfur oxides (SOx) and other impurities.
The aim of the flue gas treatment is to remove the water vapor and the impurities and compress
the CO2 to desired pressures prior to transportation and storage. The design of the flue gas
treatment system is very important both to avoid technical problems in the CO2 transportation
and storage and to minimize the energy requirements for the CO2 purification systems. New
concepts have been developed for the removal of impurities from the CO2 stream with high
potential cost savings.
Aim
The overall aim of the project is to evaluate the design of flue gas treatment system for
pressurized oxy-fuel plants, by modeling, based on the current understanding of the chemistry
of such systems. In this work the focus is on the newly proposed concepts for the removal of NOx
and SOx from the flue gas. Different design options will be built using the process simulation
software Aspen Plus.
Preliminary structure of the work
Below is a tentative structure of the work, which of course may change after initial discussions.
The aim is to make a new contribution and to limit the work to be within the scope of a MSc
Thesis while maintaining a high quality.
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Establishing a first time plan of the work
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Initial review of literature to determine the present status of the research area and get
familiar with the relevant processes
Literature review of the chemistry of importance for the flue gases at conditions relevant for
the flue gas treatment
Simulation of the conceptual pressurized oxy-fuel plant
Design studies of the flue gas treatment system
Assessment of the performance of the different design options
Reporting
Responsible persons
The following persons will be supporting the work:
Supervisors: Sima Ajdari, sima.ajdari@chalmers.se
Fredrik Normann, fredrik.normann@chalmers.se
Examiner:
Klas Andersson, klon@chalmers.se
For more information about the Division of Energy Technology and the Combustion and Carbon
Capture group visit our websites:
http://www.chalmers.se/en/departments/ee/organisation/energy_technology/Pages/default.a
spx
http://www.chalmers.se/en/projects/Pages/forbrannings--ochkoldioxidinfangningstekniker.aspx