Electrification of amine-based CO capture utilizing heat pumps

Capturing CO is necessary to abate the climate crisis. Amine CO capture is the most mature technology but suffers from high thermal energy consumption for solvent regeneration. Heat pumps are a proven technology with which to electrify industrial processes. This study investigates an integrated heat pump system used to electrify an amine CO capture unit for a biogas upgrading process using aqueous monoethanolamine. The study evaluates the potential of such integrated systems through the overall energy consumption at varied stripper pressures between 0.313 to 1.813 bara and includes a techno-economic analysis to determine the levelized cost. The most optimal heat pump scenario utilizes a vacuum operated stripper at 0.513 bara and reduces the overall energy consumption by 68 % compared to a classical amine scrubbing unit. The techno-economic analysis shows that the levelized costs for biogas upgrading per MWh of produced biomethane may be reduced by up to 33 % from 47 €/MWh to 31 €/MWh by implementing heat pump electrification systems and a vacuum operated stripper compared to a scenario using natural gas.