Chemical engineering course work in clean process technolgy Coursework

Chemical engineering course work in clean process technolgy - Coursework Example Nuclear energy provides a carbon free alternative to fossil fuel, but after the Fukushima disaster in 2011, the acceptance of nuclear plants has become very difficult. Most new generating plants will continue to be based on fossil fuels. A study by BP plc., titled â€Å"Energy Outlook 2035†, quoted by Mark Webster, shows that over the next 20 years CO2 emissions from the non-OECD region will grow as shown in Figure 1 (Webster). The chart shows that CO2 emissions from the OECD countries would level off at the levels prevailing in 2013 but the emissions from the non-OECD countries would rise rapidly. The red line marked IEA 450 is the target of 450 ppmv (parts per million volume) of CO2 concentration in the atmosphere that the International Energy Agency considers as the absolute upper limit to prevent a temperature rise exceeding 20C. This is considered the upper limit of temperature rise to prevent disastrous climate change (Webster). The vast majority of these new power plants will be coal fired since coal is the most abundant fossil fuel. A coal plant has an operating life of about 50 years and the need is for a technology that can be retrofitted to existing fossil fuel power plants to capture CO2 emissions from the flue gases before they are emitted into the atmosphere. Post-combustion chemical absorption technology is the most promising of the carbon capture technologies presently available. Carbon dioxide emissions also occur from many other industrial processes other than power generation. These include steel mills, cement plants and oil refineries. Post-combustion chemical absorption technology can be readily applied to these industries as well. The schematic diagram of the post-combustion chemical absorption process is as shown in Figure 2 from a presentation by Dr. Stanley Santos of the International Energy Agency. The flue gases