Catalytic solvent regeneration of a CO2‐loaded MEA solution using an acidic catalyst from industrial rough metatitanic acid

Abstract

AbstractEthanolamine (MEA) solution is the most commonly used commercial chemical absorbent in conventional CO2 postcombustion processes; however the high heat duty and reaction temperature (e.g. 125°C) for solvent regeneration leads to high energy requirements (approximately 70–80% of the total running cost). This paper reports a catalytic solvent regeneration of a CO2‐loaded MEA solution using industrial calcined rough metatitanic acid (TiO(OH)2) as the catalyst to improve the CO2 desorption rate and reduce the regeneration temperature to 95°C. The catalytic reaction parameters were systematically investigated with an improvement in the CO2 desorption rate of 28.9% in comparison with the non‐catalytic process. The results of characterization, such as the thermogravimetry analysis, X‐ray diffraction, N2 adsorption‐desorption, pyridine‐infrared spectroscopy (Py‐IR), showed that the Lewis acid of the industrial metatitanic acid played a major role in the decomposition of carbamate and in enhancing the regeneration rate of MEA solvent in a CO2‐rich MEA solution. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.