Performance analysis of three-phase fluidized bed absorber for CO2 capture industrial application

This work aims to analyze the performance achieved using a novel CO2 capture technology, more specifically three-phase fluidized bed columns, at industrial level. For this purpose, a previously developed detailed mathematical model, validated against experimental data, was adapted to scale-up. It considers the hydrodynamics, mass transfer and chemical reaction that takes place within the process and as such is able to accurately describe the chemical absorption of CO2 in three phase gas-solid-liquid systems. This system relies on the process intensification which is achieved due to the much higher value of the effective mass transfer area. This is obtained through the continuous renewal of the liquid film that forms on top of the solid particles that are in movement. A higher scale column was considered with one to three stages, in order to see in which case, the fluidization in more favored. Five different scenarios were chosen that refer to the column configuration. The results show that due to the turbulence within the system, the division of the packing in two stages, with descending static bed height, leads to an 20% increase in carbon capture rate and a 25% decrease in pressure drop.