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Title: Single-column cryogenic air separation: Enabling efficient oxygen production with rapid startup and low capital costs—application to low-carbon fossil-fuel plants

Abstract

The rapid integration of intermittent renewable sources into the electricity grid is driving the need for more flexible, low-carbon fossil-fuel plants with lower capital costs. This then drives the need to improve the cryogenic air separation unit (ASU). To address this changing landscape, we explore a Praxair single-column ASU (PSC-ASU) design with the goal of reducing costs and improving flexibility, compared to a conventional double-column ASU. The PSC-ASU incorporates partial air condensation and air pre-separation in the bottom reboiler with a phase separator as well as N2-enriched vapor condensation in the upper reboiler to decrease energy consumption, as compared to Linde’s single-column ASU. All three of the above-mentioned ASU designs are simulated in Aspen Plus and analyzed. An economic analysis is applied to evaluate the relative cost savings of the PSC-ASU compared to the double-column ASU. Results suggest that the specific energy consumption of the PSC-ASU is significantly lower than that of Linde’s single-column ASU due to a drastically improved oxygen recovery rate. Although this improved oxygen recovery rate is still lower than that of the double-column ASU, the required pressure ratio of the main air compressor is 21% lower than that of the double-column ASU. As a result, themore » specific energy consumption of the PSC-ASU is only 1.9% greater than that of the double-column ASU for producing 95.1 mol% O2. However, the PSC-ASU reduces the hourly capital cost by 19% due to the elimination of a high-pressure column. This would effectively decrease the total hourly cost of the ASU, and thus the total hourly cost of low-carbon, fossil-fuel power plants that require oxygen.« less

Authors:
 [1];  [1];  [1];  [1]
  1. Washington University, St. Louis, MO (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Washington Univ., St. Louis, MO (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Fossil Energy (FE); Washington University; US-China Clean Energy Research Center
OSTI Identifier:
1977085
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1824723
Grant/Contract Number:  
FE0009702
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Energy Conversion and Management
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 248; Journal Issue: C; Journal ID: ISSN 0196-8904
Publisher:
Elsevier
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
20 FOSSIL-FUELED POWER PLANTS; ASU; single-column; air separation; energy consumption; capital cost; rapid startup

Citation Formats

Cheng, Mao, Verma, Piyush, Yang, Zhiwei, and Axelbaum, Richard L. Single-column cryogenic air separation: Enabling efficient oxygen production with rapid startup and low capital costs—application to low-carbon fossil-fuel plants. United States: N. p., 2021. Web. doi:10.1016/j.enconman.2021.114773.
Cheng, Mao, Verma, Piyush, Yang, Zhiwei, & Axelbaum, Richard L. Single-column cryogenic air separation: Enabling efficient oxygen production with rapid startup and low capital costs—application to low-carbon fossil-fuel plants. United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2021.114773
Cheng, Mao, Verma, Piyush, Yang, Zhiwei, and Axelbaum, Richard L. Thu . "Single-column cryogenic air separation: Enabling efficient oxygen production with rapid startup and low capital costs—application to low-carbon fossil-fuel plants". United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2021.114773. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1977085.
@article{osti_1977085,
title = {Single-column cryogenic air separation: Enabling efficient oxygen production with rapid startup and low capital costs—application to low-carbon fossil-fuel plants},
author = {Cheng, Mao and Verma, Piyush and Yang, Zhiwei and Axelbaum, Richard L.},
abstractNote = {The rapid integration of intermittent renewable sources into the electricity grid is driving the need for more flexible, low-carbon fossil-fuel plants with lower capital costs. This then drives the need to improve the cryogenic air separation unit (ASU). To address this changing landscape, we explore a Praxair single-column ASU (PSC-ASU) design with the goal of reducing costs and improving flexibility, compared to a conventional double-column ASU. The PSC-ASU incorporates partial air condensation and air pre-separation in the bottom reboiler with a phase separator as well as N2-enriched vapor condensation in the upper reboiler to decrease energy consumption, as compared to Linde’s single-column ASU. All three of the above-mentioned ASU designs are simulated in Aspen Plus and analyzed. An economic analysis is applied to evaluate the relative cost savings of the PSC-ASU compared to the double-column ASU. Results suggest that the specific energy consumption of the PSC-ASU is significantly lower than that of Linde’s single-column ASU due to a drastically improved oxygen recovery rate. Although this improved oxygen recovery rate is still lower than that of the double-column ASU, the required pressure ratio of the main air compressor is 21% lower than that of the double-column ASU. As a result, the specific energy consumption of the PSC-ASU is only 1.9% greater than that of the double-column ASU for producing 95.1 mol% O2. However, the PSC-ASU reduces the hourly capital cost by 19% due to the elimination of a high-pressure column. This would effectively decrease the total hourly cost of the ASU, and thus the total hourly cost of low-carbon, fossil-fuel power plants that require oxygen.},
doi = {10.1016/j.enconman.2021.114773},
journal = {Energy Conversion and Management},
number = C,
volume = 248,
place = {United States},
year = {Thu Oct 07 00:00:00 EDT 2021},
month = {Thu Oct 07 00:00:00 EDT 2021}
}

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