Determination of mass transfer coefficient from biogas purification process by mono ethanol amine (MEA)

Abstract

Biogas is a renewable energy source, which can be produced from organic waste such as palm oil mill effluent (POME), through an anaerobic fermentation process. Biogas requires a purification process to remove the content of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) and carbon dioxide (CO2). The purpose of this study is to calculate the value of mass transfer coefficient in biogas purification process, namely in the process of chemical absorption of H2S and CO2 gases in raw biogas by monoethanolamine (MEA) absorbent. Biogas purification was carried out using a bubble column absorber, where raw biogas was flowed into a column containing a MEA absorber of 0.678 L. The biogas content from the column was analyzed using biogas content measuring device (Biogas 5000 ©). The overall mass transfer coefficient values in gas phase obtained from this study are 0.182–1.027 s−1 for H2S – MEA system, and 0.674–3.993 s−1 for CO2 –MEA system. The overall mass transfer coefficient of CO2 – MEA from this study is greater than that of previous studies.