CO₂ capture from flue gases in a temperature swing moving bed – simulation results vs. the experiment

The paper presents a test facility for the CO₂ capture from flue gases generated by pulverised coal combustion. The operation of the facility is based on the Moving Bed Temperature Swing Adsorption (MBTSA) process. Activated carbon is used as the adsorbent. The paper is the first to present the experimental results obtained in real operating conditions. The results are compared with the simulations performed using the gPROMS Process software. The simulation indicates an energy consumption for adsorbent regeneration of 5.7 MJ/kgCO2, while tests resulted in approximately 25 MJ/kgCO2. The difference is mainly due to the progressive degradation of activated carbon during operation. The main parameters of a CO₂ capture plant that could be installed at the CCS-ready supercritical boiler are also presented. A plant consisting of 24 columns would occupy an area similar to the surface of two football pitches. The thermal power of the steam-fed coils in the heating sections is approximately 833 MW. This represents about 45 % of the boiler heat output. The study's main conclusion is that activated carbon is currently unsuitable for long-term operation as adsorbent in the MBTSA process. The results presented can help better understand the problems encountered in flue gas CO₂ capture installations. © 2025 Elsevier Ltd