The University of Texas at Austin (UT-Austin) has developed a CO_2 removal technology for coal-fired flue gas based on absorption via concentrated piperazine solvent coupled with high-temperature, two-stage flash regeneration. The technology is being developed with funding from the US DOE National Energy Technology Laboratory's (NETL) Existing Plants Program. Concentrated piperazine offers advantages of faster kinetics, higher capacity, and lower volatility over other amine solvents. Its thermal stability enables regeneration at higher temperature and pressure, thereby lowering compression costs. This paper reports on the demonstration of this technology at 0.1-MW scale at UT-Austin's Separations Research Program (SRP) pilot plantand on results from a techno-economic analysis of the technology. The pilot demonstration evaluated the reliability of the two-stage flash design, the operating conditions required to achieve 90% CO_2 removal, and the energy performance of the technology. The techno-economic analysis estimated costs for installing and operating a full-scale system capable of achieving 90% CO_2 removal.
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