Impact of the Aerosol Particle Included in Actual Flue Gas on Amine Mist Formation/Growth in the Post-Combustion Capture Pilot Plant

Abstract

In this study, Toshiba conducted evaluation of amine emissions from 10ton-CO2/day scale pilot plant within 30wt% MEA solution as well as Toshiba solvent (TS-1), as part of the project by the Ministry of the Environment (Japan). The results show that TS-1 developed by Toshiba has significant advantages over a 30wt% MEA solution in terms of mitigating amine emissions from the top of the absorber. On the other hand, it was found that mist-driven amine emissions are less likely to be reduced by water wash and acid wash, compared to vapour pressure-driven amine emissions. We also verified the role of aerosol contained in the raw flue gas on amine mist formation/growth in the CO2 absorber. As a result, it is interesting to note that remarkable increase in number concentration of the amine mist from the top of the 1st tower (water wash) was observed, depending on the increase in number concentration of the aerosol in the flue gas upstream of the absorber. Additionally, the aerosol is nano-order, which is much smaller than that of amine mist (micro-order), and the fluctuation tendencies of the peak diameter of both the aerosol and amine mist were very similar. Therefore, this might indicate that the aerosol acts as a source of amine mist nuclei and enhances amine mist growth in the CO2 absorber.