Abstract
Membrane contactor has garnered interest in the recent decade due to its advantages. This study looks at optimisation of the amine concentration, comprising of methyldiethanolamine (MDEA) with piperazine (PZ) in membrane contactor to remove CO2 from 25mol% down to 6.5mol%. 37 experiments were carried out and the results were analysed through response surface analysis. Model is found to be significant with R2 of 0.9854. Based on contour plot produced, there exists a trade-off between amine concentration and viscosity that greatly impacts the performance. For better overall evaluation, the amine regeneration side is considered by running process simulation through gPROMS to obtain data on expected hydrocarbon co-absorption and amine regeneration energy required. The optimum amine is found to be at 45wt% concentration and MDEA-to-PZ ratio of 0.047 where the process would meet outlet spec whilst minimising amine regeneration duty and the amine rich loading.
Highlights
Membrane contactor integrates membrane separation with conventional phase contacting operation, like extraction of absorption, with the intent to fully exploit the benefits of both technologies [1]
Gas is flowed on the lumen side, with liquid MDEA-PZ solution on the shell side at constant flow rate of 10 kg/hr, counter-currently
Optimising the MDEA-PZ concentration for CO2 removal from 25mol% down to 6.5mol% demonstrates that there is a trade-off between amine concentration and viscosity
Summary
Membrane contactor integrates membrane separation with conventional phase contacting operation, like extraction of absorption, with the intent to fully exploit the benefits of both technologies [1]. This technology offers higher packing density, eliminates foaming, provides independent control of gas and liquid flow, modular and linear scale-up, gives easier prediction of performance and not sensitive to motion [2, 3, 4]. MDEA is a tertiary amine and has a low reaction rate to CO2. PZ is a cyclic amine used as a promoter to enhance absorption rate of aqueous MDEA [10]. Aqueous solution of Piperazine-activated MDEA was disclosed and introduced to market by many leading companies such as BASF, Dow Chemical Company, UOP LLC, Huntsman Corporation and Shell [8]
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