Carbon capture and storage, or CCS systems, capture or absorb carbon dioxide from industrial or energy-related gas streams before the CO₂ is compressed, transported and stored. Inside the plant, solvent loops, wash-water lines, antifoam injection points, sidestream scrubbers and CO₂ conditioning packages all create mixing duties around the main absorber/regenerator system. Today, we explore how static mixer can support those crucial process interfaces.
Post-combustion capture commonly uses solvent absorption. In an amine-based system, flue gas contacts a solvent that chemically absorbs CO₂; the CO₂-rich solvent then passes to regeneration, where heat releases CO₂ and the regenerated solvent returns to the absorber. Alkanolamine solvents such as monoethanolamine, or MEA, are among the established solvent-scrubbing routes for post-combustion capture.
Where does static mixing fit in this process? The absorber carries out the main gas-separation duty, while static mixing is used in the associated liquid circuits. The solvent make-up, dilution water, wash-water additions, antifoam dosing or compatible treatment chemicals may need to enter a circulating line before a tank, exchanger, absorber feed or reclaim step. In-line static mixing helps those additions become uniformly distributed before the stream reaches the next tank, exchanger, absorber feed or reclaim step.
Some CCS technologies and supporting treatment systems require gas-liquid contact outside the main absorber column. This can occur in polishing steps, pilot systems, wastewater treatment or smaller gas-treatment duties where the phases need to meet inside a compact process arrangement. A Gas Dispersion System, or GDS, supports this type of duty by forming small bubbles in a sidestream before the mixture enters the main liquid flow, while a second static mixer provides contact time and mass transfer in the main line. In a GDS arrangement, bubble formation is generally handled in a constant-velocity sidestream before the mixed sidestream enters the main liquid flow for further contact.
After capture, the CO₂-rich stream may need to undergo ‘conditioning’ – which may include dehydration, impurity management, or sampling before compression and transport. Water and impurities can change corrosion behaviour, compression performance, metering confidence and transport suitability, so if treatment additions, sample-conditioning flows or CO₂-rich streams come together before analysis or compression, the measured condition has to represent the stream being sent forward. Static mixing can support that step by creating a more uniform gas or liquid condition before the next decision point in your CO₂ handling route.
Capture plants often bring together modular skids, solvent treatment packages, reclaim systems, water-wash sections, CO₂ conditioning equipment and site-specific pipe routing. Those interfaces can be crowded, especially where capture is retrofitted to an existing industrial process. The mixing requirement usually appears inside a transfer line, where an injected liquid, gas or CO₂-rich stream has to be distributed before it reaches a tank, analyser, exchanger, compressor inlet or package boundary. A static mixer provides that mixing action within the pipe; the fixed internal elements splitting, rotating and recombining the passing stream, and moving material across the pipe section as it flows through the mixer body.
For information about solvent loops, gas-liquid sidestreams or CO₂ conditioning applications, please get in touch with Statiflo today. Our experts can assess whether static mixing is suitable for that part of your CCS process and advise you on the next step. Simply click here to send us a message, or call us directly.