Thermodynamic study on aqueous polyethylene glycol 200 solution and performance assessment for CO2 separation

Abstract

To develop polyethylene glycol 200 (PEG200) and aqueous PEG200 solutions (PEG200/H2O) as solvents for CO2 separation, in this study, the available thermo-physical properties of PEG200 and PEG200/H2O measured experimentally were surveyed, evaluated, and correlated with empirical equations. The solubility of CO2 in PEG200 was also surveyed, evaluated and described with the Henry's law with the Poynting correction, while the solubilities of CH4 and N2 in PEG200 were determined experimentally and then described with the Henry's law. The CO2, CH4 and N2 solubilities in PEG200/H2O were measured and described with the Redlich–Kwong Nonrandom-Two-Liquid (RK-NRTL) model. In addition, the performances of PEG200, PEG200/H2O and other commercialized physical solvents for CO2 separation were discussed based on the properties, and the biogas upgrading was chosen as the example to quantitatively evaluate the performances of PEG200 and PEG200/H2O with process simulation and compared with the high pressure water scrubbing (HPWS). It shows that the total energy usage and the amount of recirculated solvent for biogas upgrading can decrease by 9.1% and 26.5%, respectively, when H2O is replaced by PEG200 completely.