Method and apparatus for drying and compressing co2-rich flow

A process for compressing a water-containing CO2-rich fluid wherein the CO2-rich fluid is compressed in a compressor, upstream of the compression step, the water-containing CO2-rich fluid is divided into two, an antifreeze is injected into a first portion of the water-containing CO2-rich fluid, a second portion of the CO2-rich fluid is sent to the bottom of a degassing column and an overhead gas from the column is mixed with the first portion of the antifreeze-containing CO2-rich fluid, the first portion is cooled then sent into a phase separator, water containing the antifreeze is extracted from the phase separator and sent to the top of the column and the cooled fluid that is purified of water in the phase separator is compressed in the compressor.

A unit for compressing a water-containing CO2-rich fluid comprising a compressor, characterized in that it comprises, upstream of the compressor, an antifreeze inlet line for injecting the antifreeze into a first portion of the water-containing CO2-rich fluid, means for cooling the antifreeze-containing CO2-rich fluid, a phase separator for extracting water from the cooled fluid, a degassing column, means for sending a second portion of the water-containing CO2-rich fluid to the bottom of the column, means for sending water from the phase separator to the top of the column, means for sending the overhead gas from the column in order to be mixed with the first portion upstream of the cooling means, and means for sending the cooled fluid that is purified of water to the compressor.