Prospects of the Novel Csar Concept for Fully Electric or Flexible Electric-Thermal Hybrid Co2 Capture from Chp Plants

This study investigates CO2 capture from combined heat and power (CHP) plants that often use bio-based fuels. However, most CO2 capture processes require large amounts of heat, potentially consuming most of the CHP plant's primary product. The novel continuous swing adsorption reactor (CSAR) concept provides a promising solution by capturing CO2 using electrically driven heat and vacuum pumps. Techno-economic assessments conducted in this work illustrate that CSAR clearly outperforms an MEA benchmark when the CHP plant sells heat throughout the year (MEA would need a heat price below 14 €/MWh at an electricity price of 60 €/MWh to compete). When large amounts of free heat are available in summer months, MEA becomes more attractive, but a flexible CSAR configuration utilizing free heat during summer maintains a clear advantage for CSAR (MEA needs a heat price below 21 €/MWh at an electricity price of 60 €/MWh). CSAR becomes even more attractive for retrofits where considerable capital expenditures would be required to provide existing heat customers with an alternative heat supply if MEA is used. Thus, CSAR appears to be a promising technology for achieving negative emissions from CHP plants.