Synergy pinch analysis of CO ₂ desorption process

To reduce the regeneration costs of capturing CO ₂ with absorbents, a two-dimensional desorption model for two-phase flow has been proposed. The temperature and pressure predicted by the model were found to agree well with the experiment data. A new synergy pinch concept was proposed to determine the interactive synergy impacts on mass and heat transfer. According to the proposed synergy pinch principle, the carbon surplus (SAC) and energy surplus (SAE) were defined to quantify the synergy effects for mass and heat transfer, respectively. The proposed synergy pinch principle is that the lower the values of SAC and SAE, the more effective the CO ₂ desorption. In addition, the synergy pinch point can be identified at the ideal value of zero SAC and SAE. Based on this analysis, a stripper with fin internals was introduced that could contribute energy savings of about 10-14% by synergizing the fluid flow between mass and heat transfer. Thus, it was verified that the synergy pinch method can be effectively applied in CO ₂ emissions control.