A Modeling and Simulation Study to Accommodate Sorbent Sintering in a Ca-Looping System Coupled with a Cement Plant

One major bottleneck for the commercialization of Ca-looping (CaL) systems as a promising carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) technology is the decay of the CO2 capture capacity of sorbent particles due to sintering during cyclic operation. The main objective of this study is to develop a predictive process simulation of a steady-state CaL system for tail-end CO2 capture from cement plants. To characterize the CaL system, two modeling approaches were developed and integrated into the Aspen Plus process simulator. While the constrained equilibrium modeling approach accounts for the limitations that sorbent sintering and carbonation–calcination equilibrium impose on the overall performance of the system, the active space time approach relates the basic carbonator design to its operating conditions. The CaL simulation predictions of the sorbent carrying capacity and CO2 capture efficiency were validated against literature experimental data over wide ranges of operating conditions. This study is useful for the further commercialization of the CaL system through its seamless integration with other processes.