OPTICCU (Optimization of a carbon capture and use technology in the food industry)

This project is a collaboration between IQS and the company GasN2 that have developed a very promising VPSA technology for carbon capture. The increase in the concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere due to the combustion of fossil fuels has become a critical environmental problem.

The solution to this problem can be achieved by various strategies such as increasing energy efficiency, the deploy of renewable energies as well as the capture and use of CO2 (CCU). With the continuous increase in the consumption of fossil fuels, the CCU has become an effective solution to achieve the objectives of CO2 mitigation while maintaining a safe energy supply. To make the CCU viable, it is necessary to implement economic techniques for capturing and using CO2 at the emission points.

There are many techniques that can be used to eliminate CO2 from different industrial emission points such as adsorption, absorption, membrane separation, cryogenic separations, etc. The capture of CO2 from industrial emission sources has been successfully achieved by the absorption process using amines. However, this process requires high energy consumption during the absorbent regeneration and presents constant corrosion problems. However, the capture of CO2 by Vacuum Pressure Swing Adsorption (VPSA) at emission points of power generating plants has recently been considered in some works as a promising technology due to its energy efficiency and operating flexibility. The main objective of the project is to design, improve and develop the VPSA technology for the construction of an efficient and effective equipment for CO2 capture from flue gases that can be applied in-situ in the food industry.