Dans ce travail des électrodes macro- et mesoporeuses hautement organisées ont été fabriquées grâce à l' électrodéposition dans différents types de template. Des cristaux colloïdaux obtenus par la technique de Langmuir-Blodgett ont été infiltrés par des métaux ou des polymères conducteurs en utilisant l'électrodéposition potentiostatique suivi par la dissolution du template. La taille des pores, ainsi que l'épaisseur du film macroporeux pouvaient être contrôlée respectivement par le diamètre des billes de silice et par des oscillations temporelles du courant. Différentes superstructures colloïdales ont également été produites menant à des électrodes avec des défauts artificiels ou des gradients bien définis en termes de taille des pores. Des couches alternantes de différents métaux ont été déposées avec grande précision dans une monocouche de particules entrainant une modification des propriétés optiques du matériau. La miniaturisation a pu être démontrée par l'élaboration des microcylindres d'or macroporeux qui disposent non seulement d'une plus grande surface active mais aussi d'une plus grande activité catalytique envers la réduction de l'oxygène en comparaison avec leurs homologues non poreux. Dans ce même contexte une cellule électrochimique miniaturisée composé de deux électrodes macroporeuses a été proposée. Par ailleurs du platine mesoporeux a été électrodéposé en présence d`un template de type cristaux liquides lyotropes sur des réseaux de microélectrodes. Grâce à une plus grande surface active par rapport à leurs homologues non poreux des microélectrodes mesoporeuses ont montré une meilleure performance dans l'enregistrement de l' activité neuronale due à un niveau de bruit plus faible. / In the present work template-assisted electrodeposition was used to produce highly ordered macro- and mesoporous electrodes. Colloidal crystals obtained by the Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) technique were infiltrated using potentiostatic electrodeposition of metals and conducting polymers followed by removal of the inorganic template. In the resulting macroporous electrodes, the pore diameter was controlled by the size of the silica spheres, while the thickness could be controlled by temporal current oscillations caused by a periodic change of the electroactive area in the template. Various colloidal superstructures were produced in this way leading to electrodes with on purpose integrated planar defects or well-defined gradients in terms of pore size. Furthermore we showed that alternating multilayers of different metals could be deposited with high accuracy into a colloidal monolayer altering the optical properties of the material. Successful miniaturization of the process was demonstrated by elaborating macroporous gold microcylinders showing besides higher active surface areas also increased catalytic activity towards the reduction of oxygen compared to their flat homologues. In this context a miniaturized electrochemical cell composed of two macroporous gold electrodes was also proposed. Finally, mesoporous platinum films were deposited on microelectrode arrays (MEAs) using lyotropic liquid crystals as templates. The increased surface area of mesoporous compared to smooth electrodes led to improved performance in the recording of neuronal activity with MEAs owing to a reduced noise level.

Investments in carbon capture from industrial emissions have been on the rise in recent years, having reached over $200 million in 2021 as compared to 2015’s $13 million. The Paris Agreement, signed by 196 parties globally in 2015, is purported to be the primary driver for this, with its ambitious goal of limiting global surface temperature rise to 1.5°C by the year 2100 as compared to the pre-industrial era. Achievement of a carbon-neutral future for industries has been sought by experts in more than a few ways, which include attempts directed towards re-designing current manufacturing processes to produce inherently low CO2 emissions. Although eventual elimination of carbon emissions forms the ultimate goal, complete avoidance of CO2 production does not seem probable for all industrial sectors. Emissions from industries in the medium to long term are thus foreseen to be composed between 0.5% and 7% of CO2 by moles (roughly between 1% and 10% by mass), depending on the level of dilution occurring during the various flue gas treatment procedures between their source and the capture unit. An assessment of the capabilities of two popular and one prospective carbon capture technologies in capturing CO2 from such emissions of the future has been made in this work to aid investors make informed decisions about a suitable technology. The monoethanolamine-based (MEA) absorption system, one of the most popular choices today, was found to be well capable of treating emissions composed of CO2 in proportions as low as 0.6% by mole (or ∼1% by mass) with capture rates well over 95%. Its thermal energy intensity ranged between 3.59 MJth/kgCO2 captured and 10.23 MJth/kgCO2 captured with an associated levelised cost of capture ranging between €20.36/tonneCO2 captured and €141.97/tonneCO2 captured going from the 10% concentrated to the 1% concentrated stream by mass. In comparison, the benfield system was found to effect much lower CO2 capture rates ranging between 35% and 88%, making it unsuitable for treatment of low CO2 concentrated streams. Even with such poor performance at high pressures of operation, its energy demand ranged between 3.9 MJth/kgCO2 captured and 11.07 MJth/kgCO2 captured with an associated levelised cost of capture between €174.28/tonneCO2 captured and €4209.06/tonneCO2 captured. The immobilised amine-based system, in what is considered to be a non-optimised configuration yet, was found to capture nearly 100% of the entering CO2 with energy consumption ranging between 3.71MJth/kgCO2 captured and 11.8 MJth/kgCO2 captured for extremely high, but improvable levelised costs of capture ranging between €674.31/tonneCO2 captured and €3488.42/tonneCO2 captured. Exhibiting comparable energy performance to the mature MEA-based absorption system’s even in its non-optimised configuration, the immobilised amine-based adsorption system was found to possess potential to be the carbon capture technology of the future for treatment of low CO2-concentrated effluent streams. / Investeringar i koldioxidavskiljning från industriella utsläpp har ökat de senaste åren och nått över 200 miljoner USD 2021 jämfört med 2015 års 13 miljoner USD. Parisavtalet, som undertecknades av 196 parter globalt 2015, påstås vara den främsta drivkraften för detta, med det ambitiösa målet att begränsa den globala yttemperaturökningen till 1,5°C till år 2100 jämfört med den förindustriella eran. Att uppnå en koldioxidneutral framtid för industrier har eftersträvats av experter på mer än ett fåtal sätt, vilket inkluderar försök inriktade på att omdesigna nuvarande tillverkningsprocesser för att producera låga CO2-utsläpp. Även om fullständig eliminering av koldioxidutsläpp utgör det ideala målet, är det inte troligt att CO2-produktion kan undvikas helt för att alla industrisektorer. Utsläppen från industrier på medellång till lång sikt förväntas därför utgöra mellan 0,5 % och 7 % av CO2 per mol (ungefär mellan 1 % och 10 % i massa), beroende på nivån av utspädning som inträffar under de olika rökgasbehandlingsprocedurerna mellan utsläppskällan och fångstenheten. I det här arbetet har två traditionella och en potentiellt blivande koldioxidavskiljningsteknik jämförts och en bedömning av deras förmåga att fånga in CO2 från framtida utsläpp har gjorts i syfte att hjälpa investerare att göra ett klokt val. Det monoetanolaminbaserade (MEA) absorptionssystemet, ett av de mest populära valen idag, visade sig vara väl kapabelt att behandla utsläpp med CO2-koncentrationer så låga som 0,6 molprocent (eller 1 massprocent) med fångsthastigheter långt över 95 %. Dess termiska energiintensitet varierade mellan 3,59 MJth/kgCO2 captured och 10,23 MJth/kgCO2 captured med en tillhörande utjämnad kostnad för fångst mellan €20,36/tonCO2 captured och €141,97/tonCO2 captured från 10 % koncentrerad till 1 % koncentrerad ström i massa. Som jämförelse visade sig benfield-systemet ge mycket lägre CO2-avskiljningshastigheter på mellan 35 % och 88 %, vilket gör metodenolämplig för behandling av gasströmmar med låg CO2-koncentration. Den dåliga prestandan uppvisades trots höga drifttryck och metoden medförde en energiintensitet mellan 3,9MJth/kgCO2 captured till 11,07MJth/kgCO2 captured samt en snittkostnad mellan €174/tonCO2 captured till €4209,06/tonCO2 captured. Det immobiliserade aminbaserade systemet anses vara en icke-optimerad konfiguration men visade sig trots det fånga upp nästan 100 % av inkommande CO2 med en energiförbrukning på mellan 3,71 MJth/kgCO2 captured och 11,8 MJth/kgCO2 captured. De extremt höga, men dock förbättringsbara, snittkostnaderna för infångningen sträcker sig mellan €674/tonCO2 captured och €3488,42/tonCO2 captured. Det immobiliserade aminbaserade adsorptionssystemet uppvisar jämförbar energiprestanda som det mogna MEA-baserade absorptionssystemet även i sin icke-optimerade konfiguration.

In recent years an emphasis has been placed on the development of alternative and clean energy sources to reduce the global use of fossil fuels. One of these alternatives entails the use of H2 as an energy carrier, which can be obtained amongst others using thermochemical processes, for example the hybrid sulphur process (HyS). The HyS process is based on the thermal decomposition of sulphuric acid into water, sulphur dioxide and oxygen. The subsequent chemical conversion of the sulphur dioxide saturated water back to sulphuric acid and hydrogen is achieved in an electrolyser using a platinum coated proton exchange membrane. This depolarised electrolysis requires a theoretical voltage of only 0.158 V compared to water electrolysis requiring approximately 1.23 V. One of the steps in the development of this technology at the North-West University, entailed the establishment of the platinum coating technology which entailed two steps; firstly using newly obtained equipment to manufacture the membrane electro catalyst assemblies (MEA’s) and gas diffusion electrodes (GDE’s) and secondly to test these MEA’s and GDE’s using sulphur dioxide depolarized electrolysis by comparing the manufactured MEA’s and GDE’s to commercially available MEA’s and GDE’s. Different MEA’s and GDE’s were manufactured using both a screen printing (for the microporous layer deposition) and a spraying technique. The catalyst loadings were varied as well as the type and thickness of the proton exchange membranes used. The proton exchange membranes that were included in this study were Nafion 117®, sPSU-PBIOO and SfS-PBIOO membranes whereas the gas diffusion layer consisted of carbon paper with varying thicknesses (EC-TP01-030 – 0.11 mm and EC-TP01-060 – 0.19mm). MEA and GDE were prepared by first preparing an ink that was used both for MEA and GDE spraying. The MEA’s were prepared by spraying various catalyst coatings onto the proton exchange membranes containing 0.3, 0.6 and 0.9 mg/cm2 platinum respectively. The GDE’s were first coated by a micro porous carbon layer using the screen printing technique in order to attain a suitable surface for catalyst deposition. Using the spraying technique GDE’s containing 0.3, 0.6, 0.9 mg/cm2 platinum were prepared. After SEM analysis, the MEA’s and GDE’s performance was measured using SO2 depolarized electrolysis. From the electrolysis experiments, the voltage vs. current density generated during operation, the hydrogen production, the sulphuric acid generation and the hydrogen production efficiency was obtained. From the results it became clear that while the catalyst loading had little effect on performance there were a number of factors that did have a significant influence. These included the type of proton exchange membrane, the membrane thickness and whether the catalyst coating was applied to the proton exchange membrane (MEA) or to the gas diffusion layer (GDE). During SO2 depolarized electrolysis VI curves were generated which gave an indication of the performance of the GDE’s and MEA’s. The best preforming GDE was GDE-3 (0.46V @ 320 mA/cm2), which included a GDE EC-TP01-060, while the best preforming MEA’s were NAF-4 (0.69V @ 320mA/cm2) consisting of a Nafion117 based MEA and PBI-1 (0.43V @ 320mA/cm2) made from a sPSU-PBIOO blended membrane. During hydrogen production it became clear that the GDE’s produced the most hydrogen (best was GDE-02 a in house manufactured GDE yielding 67.3 mL/min @ 0.8V), followed by the Nafion® MEA’s (best was NAF-4 a commercial MEA yielding 57.61 mL/min @ 0.74V) and the PBI based MEA’s. , (best was PBI-2 with 67.11 mL/min @ 0.88V). Due to the small amounts of acid produced and the SO2 crossover, a significant error margin was observed when measuring the amount of sulphuric acid produced. Nonetheless, a direct correlation could still be seen between the acid and the hydrogen production as had been expected from literature. The highest sulphuric acid concentrations produced using the tested GDE’s and MEA’s from this study were the in-house manufactured GDE-01 (3.572mol/L @ 0.8V), the commercial NAF-4 (4.456mol/L @ 0.64V) and the in-house manufactured PBI-2 (3.344mol/L @ 0.8V). The overall efficiency of the GDE’s were similar, ranging from less than 10% at low voltages (± 0.6V) increasing to approximately 60% at ± 0.8V. For the MEA’s larger variation was observed with NAF-4 reaching efficiencies of nearly 80% at 0.7V. In terms of consistency of performance it was shown that the Nafion MEA’s preformed most consistently followed by the GDE’s and lastly the PBI based MEA’s which for the PBI based membranes can probably be ascribed to the significant difference in thickness of the thin PBI vs. the Nafion based membranes. In summary the study has shown the results between the commercially obtained and the in-house manufactured GDE’s and MEA’s were comparable confirming the suitability of the coating techniques evaluated in this study. / MSc (Chemistry), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

In recent years an emphasis has been placed on the development of alternative and clean energy sources to reduce the global use of fossil fuels. One of these alternatives entails the use of H2 as an energy carrier, which can be obtained amongst others using thermochemical processes, for example the hybrid sulphur process (HyS). The HyS process is based on the thermal decomposition of sulphuric acid into water, sulphur dioxide and oxygen. The subsequent chemical conversion of the sulphur dioxide saturated water back to sulphuric acid and hydrogen is achieved in an electrolyser using a platinum coated proton exchange membrane. This depolarised electrolysis requires a theoretical voltage of only 0.158 V compared to water electrolysis requiring approximately 1.23 V. One of the steps in the development of this technology at the North-West University, entailed the establishment of the platinum coating technology which entailed two steps; firstly using newly obtained equipment to manufacture the membrane electro catalyst assemblies (MEA’s) and gas diffusion electrodes (GDE’s) and secondly to test these MEA’s and GDE’s using sulphur dioxide depolarized electrolysis by comparing the manufactured MEA’s and GDE’s to commercially available MEA’s and GDE’s. Different MEA’s and GDE’s were manufactured using both a screen printing (for the microporous layer deposition) and a spraying technique. The catalyst loadings were varied as well as the type and thickness of the proton exchange membranes used. The proton exchange membranes that were included in this study were Nafion 117®, sPSU-PBIOO and SfS-PBIOO membranes whereas the gas diffusion layer consisted of carbon paper with varying thicknesses (EC-TP01-030 – 0.11 mm and EC-TP01-060 – 0.19mm). MEA and GDE were prepared by first preparing an ink that was used both for MEA and GDE spraying. The MEA’s were prepared by spraying various catalyst coatings onto the proton exchange membranes containing 0.3, 0.6 and 0.9 mg/cm2 platinum respectively. The GDE’s were first coated by a micro porous carbon layer using the screen printing technique in order to attain a suitable surface for catalyst deposition. Using the spraying technique GDE’s containing 0.3, 0.6, 0.9 mg/cm2 platinum were prepared. After SEM analysis, the MEA’s and GDE’s performance was measured using SO2 depolarized electrolysis. From the electrolysis experiments, the voltage vs. current density generated during operation, the hydrogen production, the sulphuric acid generation and the hydrogen production efficiency was obtained. From the results it became clear that while the catalyst loading had little effect on performance there were a number of factors that did have a significant influence. These included the type of proton exchange membrane, the membrane thickness and whether the catalyst coating was applied to the proton exchange membrane (MEA) or to the gas diffusion layer (GDE). During SO2 depolarized electrolysis VI curves were generated which gave an indication of the performance of the GDE’s and MEA’s. The best preforming GDE was GDE-3 (0.46V @ 320 mA/cm2), which included a GDE EC-TP01-060, while the best preforming MEA’s were NAF-4 (0.69V @ 320mA/cm2) consisting of a Nafion117 based MEA and PBI-1 (0.43V @ 320mA/cm2) made from a sPSU-PBIOO blended membrane. During hydrogen production it became clear that the GDE’s produced the most hydrogen (best was GDE-02 a in house manufactured GDE yielding 67.3 mL/min @ 0.8V), followed by the Nafion® MEA’s (best was NAF-4 a commercial MEA yielding 57.61 mL/min @ 0.74V) and the PBI based MEA’s. , (best was PBI-2 with 67.11 mL/min @ 0.88V). Due to the small amounts of acid produced and the SO2 crossover, a significant error margin was observed when measuring the amount of sulphuric acid produced. Nonetheless, a direct correlation could still be seen between the acid and the hydrogen production as had been expected from literature. The highest sulphuric acid concentrations produced using the tested GDE’s and MEA’s from this study were the in-house manufactured GDE-01 (3.572mol/L @ 0.8V), the commercial NAF-4 (4.456mol/L @ 0.64V) and the in-house manufactured PBI-2 (3.344mol/L @ 0.8V). The overall efficiency of the GDE’s were similar, ranging from less than 10% at low voltages (± 0.6V) increasing to approximately 60% at ± 0.8V. For the MEA’s larger variation was observed with NAF-4 reaching efficiencies of nearly 80% at 0.7V. In terms of consistency of performance it was shown that the Nafion MEA’s preformed most consistently followed by the GDE’s and lastly the PBI based MEA’s which for the PBI based membranes can probably be ascribed to the significant difference in thickness of the thin PBI vs. the Nafion based membranes. In summary the study has shown the results between the commercially obtained and the in-house manufactured GDE’s and MEA’s were comparable confirming the suitability of the coating techniques evaluated in this study. / MSc (Chemistry), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

Thesis (MEng)--Stellenbosch University, 2015. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Raadpleeg die volteks vir opsomming, asseblief. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Please refer to full text for abstract

Thesis (MScEng)--Stellenbosch University, 2012. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: See item for full text / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Sien item vir volteks

In Canada, coal-fired power plants are the largest anthropogenic point sources of atmospheric CO₂. The most promising near-term strategy for mitigating CO₂ emissions from these facilities is the post-combustion capture of CO₂ using MEA (monoethanolamine) with subsequent geologic sequestration. While MEA absorption of CO₂ from coal-derived flue gases on the scale proposed above is technologically feasible, MEA absorption is an energy intensive process and especially requires large quantities of low-pressure steam. It is the magnitude of the cost of providing this supplemental energy that is currently inhibiting the deployment of CO₂ capture with MEA absorption as means of combatting global warming. The steam cycle of a power plant ejects large quantities of low-quality heat to the surroundings. Traditionally, this waste has had no economic value. However, at different times and in different places, it has been recognized that the diversion of lower quality streams could be beneficial, for example, as an energy carrier for district heating systems. In a similar vein, using the waste heat from the power plant steam cycle to satisfy the heat requirements of a proposed CO₂ capture plant would reduce the required outlay for supplemental utilities; the economic barrier to MEA absorption could be removed. In this thesis, state-of-the-art process simulation tools are used to model coal combustion, steam cycle, and MEA absorption processes. These disparate models are then combined to create a model of a coal-fired power plant with integrated CO₂ capture. A sensitivity analysis on the integrated model is performed to ascertain the process variables which most strongly influence the CO₂ energy penalty. From the simulation results with this integrated model, it is clear that there is a substantial thermodynamic advantage to diverting low-pressure steam from the steam cycle for use in the CO₂ capture plant. During the course of the investigation, methodologies for using Aspen Plus?? to predict column pressure profiles and for converging the MEA absorption process flowsheet were developed and are herein presented.

As reserves of conventional crude oil are depleted, there is a growing need to develop unconventional oils such as heavy oil and bitumen from oil sands. In terms of recoverable oil, Canadian oil sands are considered to be the second largest oil reserves in the world. However, the upgrading of bitumen from oil sands to synthetic crude oil (SCO) requires nearly ten times more hydrogen (H₂) than the conventional crude oils. The current H₂ demand for oil sands operations is met mostly by steam reforming of natural gas. With the future expansion of oil sands operations, the demand of H₂ for oil sand operations is likely to quadruple in the next decade. As natural gas reforming involves significant carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions, this sector is likely to be one of the largest emitters of CO₂ in Canada. <br> <br>In the current H₂ plants, CO₂ emissions originate from two sources, the combustion flue gases from the steam reformer furnace and the off-gas from the process (steam reforming and water-gas shift) reactions. The objective of this study is to develop a process that captures CO₂ at minimum energy penalty in typical H₂ plants. <br> <br>The approach is to look at the best operating conditions when considering the H₂ and steam production, CO₂ production and external fuel requirements. The simulation in this study incorporates the kinetics of the steam methane reforming (SMR) and the water gas shift (WGS) reactions. It also includes the integration of CO₂ capture technologies to typical H₂ plants using pressure swing adsorption (PSA) to purify the H₂ product. These typical H₂ plants are the world standard of producing H₂ and are then considered as the base case for this study. The base case is modified to account for the implementation of CO₂ capture technologies. Two capture schemes are tested in this study. The first process scheme is the integration of a monoethanolamine (MEA) CO₂ scrubbing process. The other scheme is the introduction of a cardo polyimide hollow fibre membrane capture process. Both schemes are designed to capture 80% of the CO₂ from the H₂ process at a purity of 98%. <br> <br>The simulation results show that the H₂ plant with the integration of CO₂ capture has to be operated at the lowest steam to carbon (S/C) ratio, highest inlet temperature of the SMR and lowest inlet temperatures for the WGS converters to attain lowest energy penalty. H₂ plant with membrane separation technology requires higher electricity requirement. However, it produces better quality of steam than the H₂ plant with MEA-CO₂ capture process which is used to supply the electricity requirement of the process. Fuel (highvale coal) is burned to supply the additional electricity requirement. The membrane based H₂ plant requires higher additional electricity requirement for most of the operating conditions tested. However, it requires comparable energy penalty than the H₂ plant with MEA-CO₂ capture process when operated at the lowest energy operating conditions at 80% CO₂ recovery. <br> <br>This thesis also investigates the sensitivity of the energy penalty as function of the percent CO₂ recovery. The break-even point is determined at a certain amount of CO₂ recovery where the amount of energy produced is equal to the amount of energy required. This point, where no additional energy is required, is approximately 73% CO₂ recovery for the MEA based capture plant and 57% CO₂ recovery for the membrane based capture plant. <br> <br>The amount of CO₂ emissions at various CO₂ recoveries using the best operating conditions is also presented. The results show that MEA plant has comparable CO₂ emissions to that of the membrane plant at 80% CO₂ recovery. MEA plant is more attractive than membrane plant at lower CO₂ recoveries.

Carbon dioxide is considered to be the major source of GHG responsible for global warming; man-made CO₂ contributes approximately 63. 5% to all greenhouse gases. The cement industry is responsible for approximately 5% of global anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions emitting nearly 900 kg of CO₂ for every 1000 kg of cement produced! Amine absorption processes in particular the monoethanolamine (MEA) based process, is considered to be a viable technology for capturing CO₂ from low-pressure flue gas streams because of its fast reaction rate with CO₂ and low cost of raw materials compared to other amines. However, MEA absorption process is associated with high capital and operating costs because a significant amount of energy is required for solvent regeneration and severe operating problems such as corrosion, solvent loss and solvent degradation. This research was motivated by the need to design size and cost analysis of CO₂ capture process from cement industry. MEA based absorption process was used as a potential technique to model CO₂ capture from cement plants. In this research four cases were considered all to reach a CO₂ purity of 98% i) the plant operates at the highest capacity ii) the plant operates at average load iii) the plant operates at minimum operating capacity and iv) switching to a lower carbon content fuel at average plant load. A comparison among four cases were performed to determine the best operating conditions for capturing CO₂ from cement plants. A sensitivity analysis of the economics to the lean loading and percent recovery were carried out as well as the different absorber and striper tray combinations.

In Canada, coal-fired power plants are the largest anthropogenic point sources of atmospheric CO₂. The most promising near-term strategy for mitigating CO₂ emissions from these facilities is the post-combustion capture of CO₂ using MEA (monoethanolamine) with subsequent geologic sequestration. While MEA absorption of CO₂ from coal-derived flue gases on the scale proposed above is technologically feasible, MEA absorption is an energy intensive process and especially requires large quantities of low-pressure steam. It is the magnitude of the cost of providing this supplemental energy that is currently inhibiting the deployment of CO₂ capture with MEA absorption as means of combatting global warming. The steam cycle of a power plant ejects large quantities of low-quality heat to the surroundings. Traditionally, this waste has had no economic value. However, at different times and in different places, it has been recognized that the diversion of lower quality streams could be beneficial, for example, as an energy carrier for district heating systems. In a similar vein, using the waste heat from the power plant steam cycle to satisfy the heat requirements of a proposed CO₂ capture plant would reduce the required outlay for supplemental utilities; the economic barrier to MEA absorption could be removed. In this thesis, state-of-the-art process simulation tools are used to model coal combustion, steam cycle, and MEA absorption processes. These disparate models are then combined to create a model of a coal-fired power plant with integrated CO₂ capture. A sensitivity analysis on the integrated model is performed to ascertain the process variables which most strongly influence the CO₂ energy penalty. From the simulation results with this integrated model, it is clear that there is a substantial thermodynamic advantage to diverting low-pressure steam from the steam cycle for use in the CO₂ capture plant. During the course of the investigation, methodologies for using Aspen Plus® to predict column pressure profiles and for converging the MEA absorption process flowsheet were developed and are herein presented.