Research of novel polyamine-based biphasic absorbents for CO2 capture using alkanolamine to regulate the viscosity and mechanism analysis

Abstract

Biphasic solvent has attracted widespread attention in CO2 chemical absorption technology due to its significant potential for reducing capture energy consumption. However, the high viscosity of CO2-rich phase after phase split could lead to issues such as high flow resistance, low heat transfer efficiency, and phase separation instability in application. To address these limitations, a strategy of using alkanolamine as a viscosity regulator for biphasic solvents was proposed. Diethanolamine(DEA), an alkanolamine regulator, was introduced to a system of polyamine/amide absorbent, and then a novel biphasic solvent of diethylenetriamine (DETA)/diethanolamine(DEA)/N, N-Dimethylacetamide(DMAC)/water(H2O) was developed. The viscosity of the CO2-rich phase solvent was reduced to 19.02 mPa⋅s, a significant decrease compared to the solution without DEA regulation. The novel solvent exhibited a high cyclic capacity of 2.08 mol/kg, which was 43.4 % higher than that of the solution without DEA, and a desorption rate twice as high as 30 wt% monoethanolamine(MEA). Quantitative 13C Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) and Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulations revealed the phase split and viscosity regulation mechanisms. It was proved that DETA species, especially carbamates, tend to self-aggregate with each other due to intermolecular hydrogen bonding with the CO2 loading increases, which leads to phase split and high viscosity of the saturated solution. Through DEA regulation, the protonation of carbamates and the generation of HCO3–/CO32– were promoted, which weakened the self-aggregation of carbamates species, decreasing the viscosity and the regeneration energy of saturated CO2-rich phase solution. The regeneration energy reached 2.19 GJ/ton CO2, which exhibited a 42.4 % reduction compared with that of 30 wt% MEA.