New process development and process evaluation for capturing CO2 in flue gas from power plants using ionic liquid[emim][Tf2N]

Using the ionic liquid[emim][Tf2N]as a physical solvent,it was found by Aspen Plus simulation that it was possible to attempt to capture CO2 from the flue gas discharged from the coal-fired unit of the power plant.Using the combination of model calculation and experimental determination,the density,isostatic heat capacity,viscosity,vapor pressure,thermal conductivity,surface tension and solubility of[emim][Tf2N]were obtained.Based on the NRTL model,the Henry coefficient and NRTL binary interaction parameters of CO2 dissolved in[emim][Tf2N]were obtained by correlating[emim][Tf2N]with the gas–liquid equilibrium data of CO2.Firstly,the calculated relevant data is imported into Aspen Plus,and the whole process model of the ionic liquid absorption process is established.Then the absorption process is optimized according to the temperature distribution in the absorption tower to obtain a new absorption process.Finally,the density,constant pressure heat capacity,surface tension,thermal conductivity,and viscosity of[emim][Tf2N]were changed to investigate the effect of ionic liquid properties on process energy consumption,solvent circulation and heat exchanger design.The results showed that based on the composition of the inlet gas stream to the absorbers,CO2 with a capture rate of 90%and a mass purity higher than 99.5%was captured.These results indicate that the[emim][Tf2N]could be used as a physical solvent for CO2 capture from coal-fired units.In addition,the results will provide a theoretical basis for the design of new ionic liquids for CO2 capture.

Design and control of a p-xylene oxidation process

The p-xylene(PX) oxidation process is of great industrial importance because of the strong demand of the global polyester fiber.A steady-state model of the PX oxidation has been studied by many researchers.In our previous work,a novel industrial p-xylene oxidation reactor model using the free radical mechanism based kinetics has been developed.However,the disturbances such as production rate change,feed composition variability and reactor temperature changes widely exist in the industry process.In this paper,dynamic simulation of the PX oxidation reactor was designed by Aspen Dynamics and used to develop an effective plantwide control structure,which was capable of effectively handling the disturbances in the load and the temperature of the reactor.Step responses of the control structure to the disturbances were shown and served as the foundation of the smooth operation and advanced control strategy of this process in our future work.