Packed and fluidized bed absorber modeling for carbon capture with micro-encapsulated sodium carbonate solution

Figure X: Micro-encapsulated sorbent (MECS) consist of a CO2-absorbing material inside a polymer capsule shell (shown in bottom left). A model is developed in this paper in order to extrapolate lab-scale experimental results on MECS to predict absorber sizes. First, a model for CO2 absorption in an individual capsule is fitted to experimental loading curves collected on 0.1-gram samples of MECS exposed to CO2 (shown on left). Next, the capsule model is validated against data collected on 25 g of capsules fluidized in an absorber column (shown bottom center). The model is then optimized for a 1 MWe coal testing facility (fluidized bed design shown on top). Finally, the model is used to size an absorber for a 500 MWe coal plant (modular packed bed design shown bottom right).