Rohrdorfer Group has more than doubled the capacity of its pilot carbon capture facility at the German company’s Rohrdorf cement plant following the installation of a second absorption column.
The upgraded system can capture up to 2t of CO2 per day, compared with around 900kg previously, while the capture rate has increased to as much as 99 per cent.
The two absorption columns are connected in series, increasing the contact time between the plant's flue gas and the amine washing solution. The CO2-rich solution is subsequently purified and reused within a closed-loop system.
Rohrdorfer has also installed an Oxystripper supplied by Andritz, which has been operating since the beginning of July. The equipment uses a vacuum to remove physically bound oxygen from the amine solution. Together with other optimisation measures, this is reported to reduce oxygen concentrations by around 90 per cent, helping to improve captured CO2 quality and extend the lifetime of the solvent.
The project forms part of Rohrdorfer's efforts to develop carbon capture technology to address unavoidable process emissions from cement production, particularly those generated during limestone calcination.
