CANSOLV: A new flue gas scrubbing technology

New technology called CANSOLV has been developed in Canada and has the potential to remove 98% of SO{sub 2} from flue gas streams. A unique organic absorbent reacts quickly with sulphur dioxide. The absorbent is recycled in the process once SO{sub 2} has been recovered. The recovered SO{sub 2} can be further processed into liquid SO{sub 2}, sulphuric acid or sulphur, for which many markets exist. The absorbent is described as a proprietary thermally regenerable organic amine which presents the benefits of: no equipment erosion; fast mass transfer; scaling of the absorber and gas ducts is avoided; and solids handling problems are avoided. A process flow diagram is provided with an explanation of the six process steps: flue gas cooling, prescrubber, sub-cooling, scrubber, regeneration, and solvent purification. Test results have demonstrated 96-99% SO{sub 2} removal from SO{sub 2}/air mixtures, adequate stripping of SO{sub 2} from rich absorbent, and absorbent purification to be very efficient. Process economics were calculated and it was found that capital costs are roughly equal to the advanced wet limestone processes. Operating costs, however, are much lower. 1 fig.