Direct Air Capture Guide Plate Reduces Pressure Drop
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional direct air capture devices face high energy consumption due to alternating regeneration processes and require additional heating/cooling times, leading to inefficiencies and increased costs, while conventional methods to reduce differential pressure through larger adsorbent particles compromise contact efficiency and adsorption performance.
Innovation Solution
A continuous direct air capture system with a low differential pressure that minimizes pressure drop by using a guide plate to lower packing height and increase surface area, incorporates a closed-loop housing for continuous operation, and employs multiple adsorption units in an array to operate continuously without interrupting the adsorbent reaction process.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Stress or pressure
If the particle size of the adsorbent is increased to reduce differential pressure, then the pressure drop is reduced, but the contact efficiency and adsorption performance decrease
Solution Approach 1:
The adsorbent bed is divided into multiple segments by installing guide plates at different heights. These guide plates create multiple smaller flow paths through which the gas can pass, reducing the overall differential pressure while maintaining adequate contact efficiency through the segmented structure
Solution Approach 2:
Guide plates are installed to modify the flow pattern from a simple vertical path to a multi-dimensional path that includes horizontal components. This creates a more distributed flow pattern that reduces pressure drop while maintaining adsorption contact
2Reliability
If an alternating regeneration process is used for reactors, then the adsorbent can be regenerated, but additional energy consumption and heating/cooling time are required
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple adsorption reactors are merged into a single integrated system where they operate in a continuous cycle. The regeneration process is combined with the adsorption process of other reactors, allowing continuous CO2 capture without interrupting the overall operation and reducing energy waste from heating/cooling cycles
Solution Approach 2:
The system maintains continuous useful action by having multiple reactors operate at different stages of the adsorption-regeneration cycle simultaneously. This ensures that CO2 capture continues uninterrupted while regeneration occurs in parallel, eliminating idle time and reducing energy consumption
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables efficient processing of large flow rates with reduced pressure drop and energy consumption, allowing continuous operation without increasing adsorbent particle size, and optimizing adsorption, heating, and regeneration cycles for enhanced performance.
Implementation Method 1
a plurality of adsorbent modules (20) installed in the housing and comprising carbon dioxide adsorbents
Data Source
AI summary
The present disclosure relates to a continuous direct air capture system with a low differential pressure and operating method thereof, more particularly to, as a direct air capture system, a continuous direct air capture system with a low differential pressure including: an adsorption unit including a housing having an inlet part for introducing external air and an outlet part for discharging carbon dioxide-removed air, and a plurality of adsorbent modules installed within the housing and composed of carbon dioxide adsorbents, wherein the adsorption unit is connected in plurality, and the adsorption unit sequentially undergoes adsorption mode and regeneration mode and always operates in adsorption mode in a set number of adsorption units; a suction valve provided at the inlet part for introducing external air, and an outlet valve provided at the outlet part for exhausting the gas passed through the adsorbent modules; and a controller for controlling the suction valve and the outlet valve according to the adsorption mode and the regeneration modes, respectively.