Abstract: A recovery plant for recovery of a gaseous component from a process gas has an absorber employing a lean solvent and a semi-lean solvent that absorb the gaseous component from the process gas, thereby producing a rich solvent, a semi-rich solvent, and a lean process gas. A regenerator extracts the gaseous component from the rich solvent, thereby regenerating the lean solvent and the semi-lean solvent. A solvent flow control element combines at least part of the semi-rich solvent and the semi-lean solvent to form a mixed solvent, and a cooler cools the mixed solvent that is subsequently fed into the absorber. In a method of removing a gaseous component from a process gas, a stream of lean solvent and a stream of semi-lean solvent are provided. In another step, the stream of lean solvent and the stream of semi-lean solvent contact the process gas in an absorber to produce a stream of semi-rich solvent and rich solvent.

Abstract: A recovery plant for recovery of a gaseous component, such as carbon dioxide, from a process gas, such as the exhaust from a combustion turbine, has an absorber (110) employing a lean solvent (126) in an upper section of the absorber and a semi-lean solvent (172) in a lower section of the absorber. A regenerator (120) extracts the gaseous component from the rich solvent (117) thereby producing a regenerated lean solvent (126) and a semi-lean solvent (127). A solvent flow control element (170) combines at least a part of the semi-rich solvent (118) from the upper section of the absorber with the semi-lean solvent (127) from the regenerator to form a mixed solvent (171), and a cooler (112) cools the mixed solvent that is subsequently fed into the lower section of the absorber (110). By cooling the mixed solvent prior to entry into the absorber, the thermal energy required to remove the carbon dioxide from the exhaust gas can be reduced.