Thermal integration of waste to energy plants with Post-combustion CO2 capture

Abstract

Waste-to-Energy (WtE) is becoming an important application sector for carbon capture utilization and storage (CCS) due to its role in urban waste management and its inherent potential of achieving negative emissions. This study is built upon a series of modelling activities, with three representative WtE plant steam cycle configurations selected to integrate monoethanolamine (MEA) based Post-combustion CO2 Capture (PCC). With 60% biogenic carbon in the fuel, a set of key performance indicators of the investigated WtE plant configurations are presented. Results show that there is significant potential for heat recovery from the PCC process to provide heat for District Heating (DH). With advanced heat recovery, the energy utility factor (EUF) of WtE plant could be higher than that for WtE plant without PCC. Results also show that optimised process design can be used to enable ultra-high CO2 capture (99.72% in this study) to be achieved with only a marginal increase in specific reboiler duty when compared with 95% capture. This study also highlights the importance of differentiating carbon intensities for different product bases: electrical or thermal or waste, which are important when comparing WtE CCS with other carbon saving technologies. The findings of this study provide valuable information for the future implementation of carbon dioxide capture technology in the WtE sector.