Development of MEA phase change absorbent

Abstract

Chemical absorption using MEA is one of the most mature technologies for carbon capture. However, the huge energy consumption of MEA results in high CO2 capture costs. In this article, for the purpose of reducing the energy consumption, a new type of CO2 phase change absorbent was developed based on salting-out effect, which composed of MEA/tertiary butanol/H2O. The phase separation behavior, cyclic loading and the physical properties of this phase changing absorbent were investigated by rapid screening experiment, as well as the CO2 solubility under 40 °C and 0–0.5 MPa. The results show that the optimal cyclic loading of the phase change absorbent is up to 2.84 mol CO2/kg , which is 40% higher than that of the 30% MEA aqueous solution. The volume of the absorbent into desorber is reduced by 65%. Application of such phase change absorbers will be beneficial to reduce CO2 capture energy consumption.