P.M. Kamat
Carbon Clean,
United States
Keywords: rotating packed beds, RPBs, modular carbon capture
Summary:
Carbon capture technology plays a critical role in reducing emissions in industries such as maritime, steel and energy. In retrofit projects, where space constraints are common, shrinking equipment size can offer significant advantages for hard-to-abate industries. Carbon Clean's CycloneCC uses first-of-a-kind (FOAK) technology to make carbon capture scalable and more affordable. The technology is currently the most developed fully modular carbon capture solution targeting a CapEx and OpEx reduction through its innovative use of rotating packed beds (RPBs) and Carbon Clean’s proprietary amine-promoted buffer salt solvent APBS-CDRMax® solvent. Carbon Clean’s high-performing APBS-CDRMax solvent achieves substantial OpEx savings through outperforming the industry standard solvent, relative to that of 30wt% MEA. APBS-CDRMax reduces corrosion by a factor of 20, decreases degradation by a factor of 10, and has a lifespan that is five times longer than conventional solvents. The RPBs contain a disk of packing material which rotates around its axis. The centrifugal force generated through this rotational motion is significantly greater than the gravitational force seen in conventional packed columns for gas-liquid contacting, making RPBs far more effective in mass transfer operations. The RPB technology has been successfully pilot-tested at 1 TPD in the UK, where it has been proven to reduce the packing volume required to capture CO2 by 10 times and capture 90% inlet CO2. In 2024, Carbon Clean commissioned the world’s first modular CycloneCC industrial unit with ADNOC at Fertiglobes nitrogen fertilizer plant in Al Ruwais, Abu Dhabi. CycloneCC’s industrial demonstration unit has achieved over 4,000 operating hours, delivering a high purity CO2 product, which exceeds the projected targets and meets Fertiglobe’s purity requirements. The CO2 is captured from a reformer flue gas stack and then used by Fertiglobe in urea production. The pre-fabricated mobile CycloneCC unit was installed on-site in under a week – a record for the carbon capture sector. System validation confirms that the industrial demonstration unit can now be further scaled up – after achieving Technology Readiness Level 7 (TRL7) through this project. Carbon Clean's CycloneCC C1 series is available for CO2 concentrations ranging from 3% to 20% and is capable of capturing up to 100,000 tonnes of CO2 per year - marking the technology's penultimate stage of commercialisation. Rotating Packed Bed (RPB) technology replaces every column used in a conventional plant, achieving a height reduction of 70% compared to conventional solutions, reducing the steel required by 35% and lowering the unit’s cost by up to 50%. The unit footprint is up to 50% smaller than that of conventional carbon capture plants, with its largest equipment sizes reduced by a factor of 10. Each unit is skid-mounted and delivered on road truckable modules, cutting the costs associated with transport, logistics, site preparation and installation. Carbon Clean is working with early adopters of the CycloneCC series to ensure robust validation and accelerated deployment across global markets.