CO₂ Capture

CO₂ Capture Pathways

CO₂ Capture consists in extracting the CO₂ produced by the largest polluting industries.

To do so, two main carbon capture pathways are available: which are either the post- or pre-combustion pathways. Other solutions exist like Direct Air Capture (DAC) or oxy-fuel combustion but are much less mature with lower TRLs (technology readiness levels).

The post-combustion pathway focuses on the treatment of flue gases from various industries. On another hand, the pre-combustion pathway refers to the CO₂ capture before fuel combustion. In such instance, the fuel is processed with steam or oxygen to produce syngas.
In post-combustion, one of the available carbon capture technology is the chemical absorption of CO₂. It is a more mature solution as compared with physical absorption or other technologies. This kind of technology separates the CO₂ from other gases by absorption in a chemical solvent to produce a clean flue gas.

DMX™

The DMX™ process, a patented process stemming from IFPEN’s Research and marketed by Axens, is a second-generation process using a solvent that reduces the energy intensity for carbon capture by nearly 30% as compared to the MEA (Mono ethanol amine) reference process.

The DMX™ process is a CO₂ post-combustion capture process based on absorption by a demixing solvent, the DMX™ solvent.

The DMX™ process has been developed for CO₂ capture on coal power stations flue gases and steel gas. It can also be used for capturing CO₂ from other type of emitters such as waste incinerator, cement plant, district heating as well as production of electricity from biomass. This process is well adapted for CO₂ capture on industrial smoke or industrial gas when the CO₂ partial pressures are low to medium.

The DMX™ solvent is a specifically designed solvent that is demixing under specific temperature and CO₂ partial pressure’s conditions. When in contact with CO2, the formation of two phases can be observed, which effectively capture the CO₂.

The demixing principle

Currently, one of the main challenge of the industry is to significantly increase the energy performances of CO₂ capture solutions. They represent the costliest part of the CCS process. The DMX™ solvent tackles this issue. It has a high cyclic capacity (4 times higher as compared with the MEA reference) and only the CO₂ rich phase needs to be regenerated. As it is very stable, it may be regenerated at higher temperature than amine solvents such as MEA, which allows producing the CO₂ in pressure.

DMX™ solvent is also less corrosive and carbon steel may be used as principal material thus reducing also the CAPEX compared to other first-generation solvents.

Up to 30% reduction of energy intensity

Stable & high capacity demixing solvent

CO2 produced under pressure (up to 6 barg)

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AdvAmine™

CO₂ capture on syngas can be achieved using mature technology such as EnergizedMDEA which is part of the AdvAmine portfolio. CO₂ absorption on syngas is easily achieved as it is typically at high pressure and there is a large driving force to absorb the CO₂ and the syngas is quite pure and does not contain any oxygen. Alternate regeneration schemes and energy integration can reduce the energy requirement.

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Adsorbents

Sulfur Removal Adsorbents for Oil, Gas & Petrochemicals

Hydrogen sulfide (H₂S), COS, mercaptans or sulfides are common contaminants that must be removed from various gases and liquids such as natural gas, NGLs, LPGs, cracked gases, olefins or biogas.

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“3D Project”, the pilot Project to demonstrate the capture and storage of CO₂ on an industrial scale

In May 2019, a consortium of 11 European stakeholders including ArcelorMittal, Axens, IFP Energies nouvelles (IFPEN) and TotalEnergies launched a project to demonstrate an innovative process for capturing CO₂ from industrial activities—the 3D project (DMX™ Demonstration in Dunkirk).

The pilot, designed by Axens, entered the construction phase in 2020 at the ArcelorMittal steelworks site in Dunkirk with the availability to capture 0.5 metric tons of CO₂ an hour from steelmaking gases since 2022.

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