Absorption capacity and CO2 removal efficiency in tray tower by using 2-(ethylamino)ethanol activated 3-(dimethylamino)propan-1-ol aqueous solution

Abstract

The absorption amount (m) and loading (α) of CO2 in 2-(ethylamino)ethanol (EAE) activated 3-(dimethylamino)propan-1-ol (3DMA1P) aqueous solution were measured. The temperatures ranged from 303.2 K to 323.2 K. The mass fractions of 3DMA1P and EAE respectively ranged from 0.3 to 0.5 and 0.01 to 0.03. The effects of temperature (T) and mass fractions of amines (w) on the absorption performance were illustrated. It’s impressive that the addition of very small amounts of EAE into 3DMA1P aqueous solution significantly enhanced the absorption performance. Moreover, comparison showed that 3DMA1P-EAE aqueous solution appeared much higher CO2 absorption capacity than the widely used MDEA-MEA aqueous solution. Tray towers with different plates (Np = 6, 8 and 10) were used to verify the removal efficiency of CO2 (ηCO2) and the effects of gas flow rate (G), absorbent flow rate (L), w, absorbent feed temperature (T) and Np on ηCO2 were illustrated. Our results showed that when composed of 30% to 50% (mass percent) 3DMA1P and 3% EAE, the absorbents achieved ηCO2 higher than 90%, which met the efficiency requirement specified in a power plant, thus leading to a promising industrial application in the CO2 capture process.