Apr. 14, 2025
Energy
With carbon taxes on the rise, more stringent regulations enacted all of the time and the planet warming, many companies face two important questions. Does it make sense to recover the CO2 we produce? If yes, how can I do that? The answer to these questions is carbon dioxide recovery and utilization. But what does that mean? Let’s look.
Carbon dioxide (CO2) is a biproduct of many industrial processes. It is also a gas that is responsible for climate change. In the past, it was just blasted into the air. Now, however, there are technologies available that allow us to “capture” CO2 and to liquify (and reuse) it or “sequester” it (usually underground) so that it cannot escape into the air.
The first question of whether it makes sense to take advantage of these technologies can be answered with a resounding “Yes!” There are financial and moral incentives to use carbon capturing.
On the one hand, it’s the right thing to do. Allowing the carbon dioxide you produce to simply vanish into the atmosphere only makes the challenge of addressing climate change more daunting. Capturing the carbon, however, is becoming also good for business.
In the EU, the carbon tax is €90 per ton while, depending of the source, it could cost much less than that to capture the CO2.
That brings us to the second question: How can I do this in the most effective and efficient manner?
We will focus on one of the most common CO2 capture technolgies: amine scrubbing.
The process begins by filtering out the contaminants from the CO2-rich emission stream. Most processes that create CO2, also generate sulfur and nitrogen-based compounds, which must be removed early in the process to avoid damaging components further down the process.
The next step in recovering carbon dioxide is to extract it out of the emission stream. This is done using a CO2 adsorbing liquid medium known as an amine-solution which is at the heart of this carbon-capture technique.
In the following step, this solution is pumped to a stripper as a carbon dioxide-rich fluid. As the name indicates, the stripper strips (removes) the CO2 from that liquid. This is normally done using heat, and the result is a CO2-rich gas and a low-CO2 liquid.
In a final step, the gas has to be compressed so that it can be liquified, captured or used for another process.
This is where Atlas Copco comes in. We provide state-of-the-art CO2 compressors and dryers. Their outstanding quality, reliability and efficiency not only help you do your part for the environment but also cut your costs.
In certain sectors, carbon capture can be quite lucrative. Mainly, those are the ones that produce a lot of emissions with a high carbon dioxide content. They include the coal chemical and power plant sectors, the petrochemical sector and steel and cement producers.
As you can imagine, not all supercritical CO2 extractors are made the same.
For more than 30 years, we have customized many CO2 extraction machines for many companies and university laboratories. Because each customer's CO2 extraction process requirements are different, there are almost no identical machines.
The materials and technology used to make a CO2 extraction machine can contribute to the quality of the machine itself, and how effective that particular machine is for your intended purpose.
The first factor that determines the size of the CO2 extraction vessel is the daily working hours of the plant, which determines the daily extraction batch.
It is important to choose the right vessel size that will meet your current needs as well as future demand. Most extractors are expandable but require downtime and additional investment. A smaller system will come with a 5 L vessel, which will process about 2 1/2 pounds per run with eight runs per day. After a 5 L vessel, the size jumps to 20 liters, which will process 10 pounds per run with six runs per day. From 20 Liters, you can obtain 40, 60, 100, and beyond. After 100 liters, you will be installing industrial size equipment with virtually limitless volume production.
Link to Chengde Energy Technology
This ties directly back to the correlation between footprint and extraction throughput.
The fact of the matter is that extractors vary greatly in their processing capabilities. A supercritical CO2 extractor can range from a biomass processing capability of 0.1 pounds all the way up to pounds and beyond.
Supercritical co2 extractors can have three structural forms, single extraction vessel, double extraction vessel, and triple extraction vessel.
Single extraction vessel: This structure is usually used for laboratory or home extraction (small co2 extraction machine). If we extract a batch of CBD oil for 2 hours, the CO2 extractor with a single container structure needs a minimum of 3 hours, because it requires additional equipment. loading and unloading process. At the same time, after the extraction process, the CO2 gas in the container must be discharged into the air, which wastes a part of the gas(small CO2 extraction machines are usually not equipped with a CO2 recovery system).
Dual extraction vessel: Commercial CO2 extraction machine. Two extraction containers work alternately: one container is extracting, and the other container is resting and waiting after filling.
The CO2 in the container after the extraction work is completed will be transferred to the waiting container, thereby reducing the use of gas and saving the cost of extraction.
Taking the extraction of CBD oil as an example, if each batch takes 2 hours, then 12 batches can be extracted in 24 hours, which is a highly efficient CO2 extraction machine.
Triple extraction vessels: industrial supercritical carbon dioxide extraction machine. Two extraction containers work, and the third container rests and waits after filling.
Taking the extraction of CBD oil as an example, if each batch takes 2 hours, then 23 batches can be extracted within 24 hours, with high efficiency and high machine cost.
Waxes separation and Light oil separation in 1st separator
Light oil separation in 2nd separator
To trap lightest and volatile compounds in 3rd separator
Once your material has been extracted, it is transferred to the separator (collection chamber). Your collection chambers have a large impact on the quality of your extract. If you have a single extraction chamber you have no ability to obtain multiple qualities or cuts of extract. We suggest a minimum of two to three cascading separators to produce the highest quality extracts. This also gives you the ability to step down the pressure in the system more gradually, which will greatly improve the overall quality.
When choosing your system, it is important to consider terpene retention during the extraction process. You can increase the terpene yield by properly prepping the material and also by adding a vapor condenser or cold trap to the system.
The choice of extraction pressure is a changing factor. If the extraction pressure is too high, the useless substances in the plant will be extracted, such as wax and chlorophyll. If the extraction pressure is too low, the extraction time will be increased.
Another factor to consider is the pressure rating of the extraction vessel and system overall. Generally, the higher the pressure, the more expensive the unit will be. You can purchase a system at the lower end of the supercritical curve around 350 bar or as high as bar. It is important to note that the larger volume systems become exponentially more expensive with higher-pressure ratings. Depending on your extraction technique, a lower pressure system might be completely adequate. There are two different camps for selecting pressure. Some people think that the lower the pressure the better because there is less impact on the organic compounds but others think higher pressure is better because it ruptures the cell wall more efficiently.
When we extract material, some CO2 gas is lost.
The proportion of loss is about one-third of the material.
If you choose an extraction vessel of 30L or less, our recommendation is to ignore these gases, they are not worth the increased investment in a gas recovery system.
But when the container is larger than 30L, we need a system to recover the CO2 gas in the extraction container, we call it CO2 recovery system.
It will reduce the cost of extraction and ensure the safety of the extraction space. After all, the extraction operator cannot survive in the space full of CO2, especially in the working environment of the industrialized CO2 extraction system.
First, the solvent (such as CO2) is passed through the high-pressure pump to reach the supercritical state, above the critical temperature (31ºC) and pressure ( psi) becomes a supercritical fluid.
Under the supercritical state, CO2 fluid possesses the properties of a gas and a liquid and is characterized primarily by its excellent dissolving capacities, behaves much like fluid solvents similar to hexane in terms of its solubility selectivity.
This higher solubility means a highly efficient extraction. Raising the temperature and pressure of the liquid CO2 even further provides highly efficient essential oil extractions in a shorter period of time.
(As we all know, under higher CO2 density (such as 40°C and pressure higher than 20.0MPa), supercritical CO2 fluid exhibits strong solubility and lower selectivity. In fact, the extraction rate increases under high-density CO2 Mainly due to the increase of surface wax and other undesirable ingredients. What are the optimization extraction conditions for supercritical CO2 essential oil extraction?)
As it passes through the biomass, the supercritical fluid breaks down the essential oil (non-polar compounds) and dissolves them into the fluid. After the separation of plant essential oil, the pressure-reduced CO2 liquid will enter the high-pressure pump cycle again in the closed-loop system for the next extraction.
Usually, in the fourth process, we equip three separators:
If you are looking for more details, kindly visit Co2 Recovery System.
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