Shigeaki Mitsuoka

CO2 recovery technology from flue gas and its application for enhanced oil recovery.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. and The Kansai Electric Power Co., Inc. have been developing CO2 recovery technology from flue gas since 1990 as a measure against global warming. As a result of the research and development efforts which have now been carried out for more than eight years, the new energy-efficient solvents KS-1, KS-2 and KS-3, which are less corrosive and cause less degradation than those used previously, have been developed. In addition, a research has produced a new packing, that can reduce the size of CO2 absorbers and the horsepower requirements of flue gas blowers.The efficient of new energy-saving solvent, KS-1, KS-2, KS-3 and a new packing have been proved by using the pilot plant, which is located in Nanko Power Plant of the Kansai Electric Power Co., Inc. This new CO2 recovery technology from flue gas, in comparison with the conventional technology (monoethanol amine process), dramatically reduced the CO2 recovery cost. We evaluated this technology for applying enhanced oil recovery. The result was that CO2 delivery cost was equivalent to that of the United States for enhanced oil recovery. A cost evaluation study reveals, if the power plant located near the oil field (a couple of hundred kilometers), it is feasible to supply CO2 in reasonable cost.