THE CARBONDIOXIDE PLANT

Carbon dioxide gas is a colorless and odorless gas. It has a melting point of -56.6 0c and also
sublimes under -78.50c and one atmosphere conditions. Carbon dioxide exist in the earth’s
atmosphere at a concentration of about 0.05% (500 parts per million) by volume. Carbon
dioxide is a product of respiration of all aerobic organisms including humans.
Carbon dioxide is produced during the processes of decay of organic materials and
fermentation of sugars. It is a versatile industrial material used for example as an inert gas in
welding and fire extinguishers, as a pressurizing gas in air guns and oil recovery, as a
chemical feed stock and in liquid form as a solvent in decaffeination of coffee and
supercritical drying.
It is added to drinking water and carbonated beverages including beer. This type of carbon
dioxide is called the food grade carbon dioxide and it is of high purity above 99.9%. The
frozen solid form of CO2, known as dry ice or snow is used as a refrigerant and as an
abrasive.
Carbon dioxide is an important greenhouse gas; industrial revolution has rapidly increased its
concentration in the atmosphere leading to global warming. It is also a major cause of ocean
acidification since it dissolves in water to form carbonic acid. It causes acidic rains for the
same reason. It has a triple point of about 518kPa at -56.6 0c. The combustion of all carbon-
based fusels (hydrocarbons) such as methane (natural gas), petrolatum distillates (gasoline,
diesel, kerosene, propane) leads to production of carbon dioxide.
All aerobic organisms produce CO2 when they oxidize carbohydrates, fatty acids and
proteins. Carbon dioxide is a by-product of the fermentation of sugar in the brewing of beer
whisky and other alcoholic beverages. Yeast metabolizes sugar to produce CO 2 and ethanol.
Carbon dioxide is obtained through this process at the distillery.
C6H12O6 2C2H5OH + 2CO2 + heat…… (-265kcal).
Carbon dioxide plant is a recovery plant that makes use of the by-product produced in the
fermentation process of the molasses. Food grade carbon dioxide is 99.99% pure CO2 with
0.01% impurities, impurities are always minimized and various purity tests are carried out at
all stages in the plant.
General process flow of the carbon dioxide plant
Carbon dioxide produced from the fermentation process is trapped off but has impure
compounds like hydro-carbons, with 99.9% composition of CO2; the trapping is done by
scrubbers and is sent to the foam trap that removes the foam and then the gas is blown by the
blower at a pressure of (0.1-0.5kg/cm 2) to the low pressure water scrubber; this uses water
with a flow rate of 10-15litres/min at low pressure to remove low hydrocarbons as they are
water soluble impurities to the knockout drum that holds the suction pressure for
compression.
The gas is compressed up to 19.5kg/cm2 in the compressor. Since the gas gains heat during
compression, it is passed through the outer cooler to remove the heat then to the moisture trap
to remove the moisture. From the moisture trap to the high pressure water scrubber that
removes water soluble impurities that might have escaped with the gas then to the
deodorizers that free the gas from any odor using activated carbon; they are two in number
and automatically alternate every 8 hours; they are regenerated by steam at 250 0c and the gas
is cooled in the pre-cooler.
From the pre-cooler, the gas is dried in the dryers, moisture is trapped off in the moisture
trap and the pre-filter to filter off aerosols, dust and color then to dryers 1 and 2 that use
alumina molecular sieves and the gas is again filtered in the after-filter before it leaves the
dryers.
From the dryers, the gaseous carbon dioxide enters the liquefier where ammonia absorbs heat
from carbon dioxide gas and it changes state to liquid. The liquid carbon dioxide goes
through the stripper tower that separates oxygen from carbon dioxide by density difference,
carbon dioxide is denser and settles at the bottom of the stripper tower and oxygen is given
off at the top.
From the stripper tower, carbon dioxide is pumped by transfer pumps to the top of the NOx
towers which use molecular sieves to absorb the nitrogen that is an impurity in the carbon
dioxide liquid, the liquid is stored in cryogenic storage tanks that are highly lagged.

When needed to be packed as dry ice, the liquid carbon dioxide from the storage tanks is
transferred to the dry ice machine that compresses it to solid state.
The quality of carbon dioxide is tested using the online gas chromatograph that gives
compositions of impurities in parts per million. Liquid carbon dioxide cannot be seen by eyes
because it vaporizes when exposed to the atmosphere.
 DETAILS OF THE PROCESSES INVOLVED IN CARBON DIOXIDE
PURIFICATION
Booster blower: it sucks the carbon dioxide from the fermenters and also maintains the
fermenter pressure and provides pressure for purification of the gas.
Foam Trap: It removes foam that comes along with the gas. It uses DM water that flows in
the opposite direction to that of the gas (counter current flow).
The CO2 compressor: This is a reciprocating machine with a non-lubricated (Oil-free) gas
end, designed for smooth two-stage compression of wet CO2. The compressor elevates the
CO2 pressure in two steps to the final CO2 liquefying pressure.
First stage compression: Here the pressure should be maintained between 2-4kg/cm2 and
the temperature between 80-1200c
Second stage compression: The required pressure should be between 15-18kg/cm2 and the
temperature between 40-600c. Oil pressure should be maintained between 1.5-3kg/cm2.
Intercooler temperature should be maintained less than 35 0C. The intercooler and moisture
trap drains are opened every after 30 minutes.

Purification of gaseous carbon dioxide

This process involves the removal of impurities from the gas. Such impurities include the
foam, ethanol and other high boiling alcohols, fusel oils and fermented wash that come along
with the gas from the fermenters. The process of purification starts from the foam trap up to
the pre-cooler and the drier.
Regeneration of the activated carbon tanks (Deodorizers)
This involves heating activated carbon with steam for more than two hours to activate it.
Procedure
 The deodorizers are regenerated one at a time every 24hrs of operation.
 The steam valve is opened and steam is supplied to the deodorizer.
 The steam is then condensed to liquid and then analyzed for appearance and odor.
 They are then cooled with cold oxygen from the oxygen stripper.
 Regeneration is done with steam at 60 to 1200C for 4hrs.

LIQUEFACTION OF CARBON DIOXIDE

Liquefaction: Is the process of converting a gas or solid into a liquid, normally by condensing
the gas or melting the solid.
Liquefaction process starts from the dual dryers up to the oxygen stripper. It involves the
following procedures.
 Before starting the chilling Unit, the Oil and ammonia level is first checked with the
help of an inspection glass.
 The oil heater is switched on all the time. This helps to keep the oil temperature
slightly above that of the ammonia so as to avoid ammonia mixing with the oil.
 The chilling Unit is then switched on while maintaining the suction pressure around
20 to 30 Psi. The loading of the machine should be maintained between 25 to 50% for
at least 45 minutes before hill loading to 100%.
Gaseous carbon dioxide is condensed and liquefied using ammonia vapors. Ammonia gas
flows from the ammonia liquid receiver to the pre-cooler and then to the economizer.
From the economizer, the ammonia flows to the liquefier where it absorbs heat from gaseous
carbon dioxide changing it to liquid carbon dioxide. The vaporized ammonia from the
liquefier and pre-cooler converges in the surge drum from which it goes to the compressor.
The compressor uses oil that gets in contact with the ammonia that is being compressed.
The mixture of ammonia and oil goes to oil separator that heats up the ammonia and is
collected off as a vapor that is condensed in the condenser then resupplied back to the
ammonia liquid receiver.
The oil from the oil separator goes to the oil cooler for cooling then to the oil drain pot. When
it is over used and there is need for replacement, fresh oil is used well as if there is no need,
the oil is resupplied back from the oil cooler to the compressor.

The process flow diagram below shows the flow of ammonia in the liquefaction section

Liquefier
NH3 Liquid Economizer
receiver
Gaseous NH3

Pre-cooler Surge drum Compressor

Gaseous
NH3

Condenser GaseousOil
NH separator
3

Warm Oil
Over used oil
Oil drain pot Oil cooler
Drained off

The table below shows the temperature ranges for stages of the chilling unit.

CO2 in CO2 out NH3 NH3 Cooling Cooling Oil Economi

suction discharg water in water temperat zer
e out ure
(0 to 15 to +1 to 40 to 20 to 21 to 30 to 500c 30 to
280c) 270c) 100c 600c 290c 320c 500c
For the proper function of the chilling unit, ensure that;
 The cooling water lines are aligned; ammonia levels for receiver, economizer,
liquefier and pre-cooler are at least medium.
 The ammonia compressor is started and the suction valve is opened gradually while
loading manually until 50% then changed to automatic mode.

PURIFICATION STAGES OF LIQUID CARBON DIOXIDE

Purification involves the removal of contaminants from the liquid carbon dioxide. The
contaminants include the oxygen and a number of oxides of nitrogen like nitrogen monoxide
and nitrogen dioxide. They are generally called NOx gases. This purification process begins
from the Oxygen stripper up to the NOx towers.
The oxygen stripper removes the oxygen from the liquefied carbon dioxide. Oxygen liquefies
at a much low temperature than carbon dioxide hence it exists as a gaseous impurity in liquid
carbon dioxide. From the liquefier, impure liquefied carbon dioxide is directed to the top of
the tower, as it descends the tower, oxygen gas rises up the tower because it is lighter than the
product. It is then directed to the deodorizers to cool them after regeneration by steam.
Liquid carbon dioxide continues to the NOx towers. These are two and they perform the same
function. The NOx impurities that escape with the product from the first tower cannot escape
in the second tower. These towers have a similar mode of operation as the oxygen stripper.

5.3 The cooling tower

Almost all the machinery in the plant heats up during the process of gas compression,
ammonia compression and other processes. This calls for the need of cooling and hence the
cooling tower. This supplies cool water to the pumps, compressors and blowers to cool them.
The heat from these parts is absorbed by the cool water which then returns to the cooling
tower when hot and it is cooled again for resupply to the system.