HS3 Solvent Aspen Plus Model Validation Using Tiller Pilot Plant Data

Abstract

The HS3 solvent is an innovative blend for CO₂ capture made up of a primary (3-amino-1-propanol, AP) and a tertiary (1-(2-hydroxyethyl) pyrrolidine, PRLD) amine studied in the H2020-funded Realise project. The thermodynamic framework has already been validated using experimental observations. The proposed thermodynamic model has been built into Aspen Plus V11 using the ENTRL (Electrolyte Non-Random Two Liquid) package and, then, finalized by including a mass transfer model and kinetics. The resulting full flowsheet simulation model has been validated using experimental measurements from Tiller semi-industrial pilot plant (Trondheim, Norway). The experimental campaign succeeded in demonstrating lower energy requirement and liquid recirculation compared to conventional monoethanolamine (MEA) at 30% w/w. The present contribution aims at presenting the validation procedure of the developed model over experimental data from the large-scale facility at Tiller and showing that the HS3 solvent is a promising blend to mitigate energy consumption in the CO₂ capture process. All KPIs of the CO₂ capture plant (CO₂ capture rate, CO₂ flow released in the stripper and temperature profiles inside the two columns) are predicted with an Absolute Average Relative Deviation (AARD) lower than 5% and with an Average Relative Deviation (ARD) close to zero. This statistical analysis demonstrates that the developed HS3 Aspen model can be used for simulation, energy analysis, and techno-economic assessment purposes.