CO2 chemical absorption into AMP aqueous solution and mass transfer intensification in cascade sudden expansion microchannels

Abstract

Carbon dioxide chemical absorption into 2-amino-2-methyl-1-propanol (AMP) aqueous solution and mass transfer enhancement in cascade sudden expansion microchannels were investigated by a high-speed digital camera. The influences of the flow rates of gas and liquid phases, the sudden expansion units and the concentration of AMP on the gas-liquid two-phase flow and mass transfer performance are studied systematically. Results showed that the increase of sudden expansion unit is conductive to increase liquid side volumetric mass transfer coefficient and enhancement factor. The maximal enhancement factor could reach to 1.33, and the maximally effective mass transfer efficiency could reach 1.6 under taking the energy consumption into account. The gas phase flow rate has slight effect on mass transfer enhancement factor E, while E decreases with increasing liquid phase flow rate. With the increase of AMP concentration, the volumetric mass transfer coefficient increases, but the enhancement factor decreases. A new correlation with good prediction performance was proposed for the volumetric mass transfer coefficient. Furthermore, the energy consumption and effective mass transfer efficiency were assessed.