Heat and mass transfer of a novel CO2 desorption process integrated with highly turbulent catalytic heat exchanger

Abstract

This was the first work that pioneered the development a novel catalytic CO2 desorption process using an agitated jacket vessel with a coil heat exchanger (JVC) into a bench-scale pilot plant for post-combustion carbon capture technology. The key parameters of heat and mass transport e.g., overall heat transfer coefficient, overall volumetric liquid-side mass transfer coefficient and the enhancement factor for catalyst effect, were experimentally investigated by varying the operating conditions, including temperature, stirring speed, and heating methods. The proposed investigations revealed that the utilization of the JVC was a promising technology for improving heat transfer and mass transfer performance in the desorption process due to the high turbulence flow and more favorable thermal distributions achieved by the JVC. In comparison to the conventional process with a fixed catalyst bed, the JVC demonstrated a remarkable approximately 30 % catalytic enhancement and a substantial 50 % reduction in catalyst demand. Additionally, other potential benefits and challenges of further practical operations were discussed in this paper. This research carried significant potential to contribute to the advancement of knowledge and offer valuable insights into the practicability of the catalytic desorption process for further commercial application in carbon capture. The integration of catalyst and JVC could potentially motivate the utilization of catalyst towards commercial-scale applications.