Amine-based Post-combustion CO2 Capture Research Articles

A comparative study of polyamine and piperazine as promoter for CO2 absorption performance in aqueous methyldiethanolamine blend system: 430 MW power plant data simulation and economic assessment

Fossil fuel power plants play a significant role in fulfilling global energy demands but are also responsible for high CO2 emissions. Amine-based post-combustion CO2 capture (PCC) is one of the technologies used in such power plants to reduce CO2 emissions. However, high energy consumption in amine-based PCC technology causes a reduction in the overall energy efficiency of power plants. The energy consumption significantly depends on the solvents used in the PCC process. Therefore, in this work, we performed CO2 absorption in the piperazine (PZ), triethylenetetramine (TETA), and N-methyldiethanolamine (MDEA) blend and tri-blend solvents. For the absorption performance and energy consumption calculation, a simulation is performed for the 430 MW power plant data in the DWSIM software. Initially, solvent screening was done, and four solvents are selected based on the optimum energy consumption of various solvents. Further, the solvents’ performance in terms of energy consumption is done based on the effect of different temperatures, CO2 composition in feed, and %CO2 recovery. Overall, the TETA+PZ MDEA tri-blend solvent showed optimum energy consumption for most of the conditions. Additionally, a techno-economy assessment was done considering annual capital cost and annual operating cost, and results revealed that the cost per ton of CO2 capture in 5 %TETA+ 5 %PZ+ 20 %MDEA solvent is 27.33 % lesser than industrial MEA solvent, and 1.56 % lower than 10 %PZ+ 20 %MDEA.

Fossil fuel facilities exergy return for a frontier of analysis incorporating CO2 capture: The case of a coal power plant

The Energy Return On Investment (EROI) has proven to be an useful concept in the last 50 years. However, given the urgent need of the energy transition to deal with climate change, its frontier of application and concept must be extended to include the requirement for CO2 capture from fossil fuel combustion (or the exergy associated with this work). This study applies a novel concept, the Exergy Return on Environment and Energy Investment (ExROEEI). It considers the quality of energy and extends the frontier of analysis to incorporate the exergy associated with removing CO2 from fuel combustion and with the environmental effects of effluent streams. This allows assessing fossil fuel sources that are converted to meet energy services but have to comply with the need to limit CO2 emissions. By applying this extended concept to a coal-based power plant equipped with amine-based post-combustion CO2 capture, our findings show that the ExROEEI reaches a 2.06:1 ratio, being the outlet exergy of the plant 250.52 PJ and its inlet exergy 121.46 PJ (the exergy associated with capturing and compressing the CO2 represents 35.58% of this figure). Therefore, the exergy surplus of this option is lower, which raises questions about its energy feasibility.

Activated Carbon Produced from the Hydrothermal Treatment of Glucose with KOH Activation for Catalytic Absorption of CO2 in a BEA-AMP Bi-Solvent Blend.

The amine-based postcombustion CO2 capture (PCC) process involves absorption of CO2 into a solvent and then regenerating the solvent to produce CO2. In this study, the effect of an activated carbon (AC) catalyst, synthesized through hydrothermal treatment and furnace activation on CO2 absorption in a 4M BEA/AMP amine blend, was evaluated and compared with that of a KMgO/CNTs (1:4) catalyst. The physical and chemical properties of AC were investigated with a scanning electron microscope (SEM), CO2 temperature-programmed desorption (CO2-TPD), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET), powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), and thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA) and compared with the KMgO/CNTs (1:4) catalyst. The results showed that when compared against noncatalytic CO2 absorption, AC enhanced the linear rate of CO2 absorption by 33.3%, while for KMgO/CNTs, it was reported as 25.5%. The relatively higher surface area, combined with the higher number and strength of basic sites of AC relative to the KMgO/CNTs (1:4) catalyst, provided effective basic reaction sites for CO2 absorption, thereby enhancing the rate of CO2 absorption into the amine. AC was also relatively easier to synthesize which would provide a good replacement for the CNT-based catalyst which has carcinogenic tendencies.

Exploration of optimal operating conditions for a natural gas combined-cycle power plant integrated with post-combustion CO2 capture using 2-amino-2-methyl-1-propanol/piperazine considering the propagation effect

Integrating post-combustion CO2 capture (PCC) into thermal power plants can reduce CO2 emissions but results in a significant decrease in net thermal efficiency. Optimizing PCC operating conditions, such as the ratio of the liquid flow rate to the gas flow rate (L/G) and stripper bottom temperature, reduces the net efficiency penalty. However, previous studies partially neglected the propagation effects of altered operating conditions on process performance, such as the effect of altered L/G and resultant change in fluid velocity on the heat transfer and pressure drop in the rich and lean solution heat exchanger. This study simulated amine-based PCC integrated into a natural gas combined cycle and explored optimal operating conditions comprehensively considering the propagation effects. The net efficiency penalty was minimized to 6.02%-pts. at a stripper bottom temperature of 130 °C and L/G of 0.82 for PCC operation with CO2 compression. Meanwhile, neglecting propagation effects of altered L/G led to underestimation of the efficiency penalty and erroneous determination of optimal operating conditions. The system evaluation methods suggested in this paper contribute to correctly optimizing PCC operating conditions and can be broadly applied to amine-based PCC studies employing novel amine solutions or process modifications.

Mechanistic analysis of post-combustion CO2 capture performance during amine degradation

Degradation of amine is often regarded as a major problem for amine-based post-combustion CO2 capture. However, the observed regeneration energy in long-term pilot plant operations does not necessarily increase, regardless of the accumulation of degradation compounds. This paper provides a mechanistic explanation for this seemingly paradoxical behavior by focusing on the influence of heat stable salts and the CO2 loading range on solution properties. Post-combustion CO2 capture using degraded amine solution was simulated in Aspen Plus®, and the influence of heat stable salts on CO2 loading, solution properties, and regeneration energy were analyzed. Results indicate that the alteration of the operational CO2 loading range and the physical properties of heat stable salts themselves cause changes in solution properties that dictate overall energy consumption, such as viscosity, vapor liquid equilibrium, and specific heat capacity. These effects often offset each other to some extent, thereby obscuring the influence of individual factors on regeneration energy. These counteracting effects can largely explain the seemingly paradoxical behavior of post-combustion capture maintaining relatively low energy consumption even when amine degradation proceeds.

Nonlinear Model Predictive Control of Post-combustion CO2 Capture Process for Flexible Operation

A large amount of energy requirement for solvent regeneration is a major barrier to the widespread adoption of amine-based post-combustion CO2 capture (PCC). Flexible operation is one of the ways to lower the energy penalty by responding to changes in economic factors like the energy price. However, for effective implementation of flexible operation strategies, it is necessary to identify the most economic operating condition under various potential scenarios and to establish an appropriate control strategy to operate the process. As flexible operation will inherently involve a large operating envelope, we investigate the use of nonlinear model predictive control (NMPC) technology. To circumvent the problem of solving a large-scale nonlinear programming problem online, a simpler NARX model is identified and used. With the NARX model, an offset-free NMPC is designed and simulated under various dynamic scenarios. The developed NARX-based NMPC shows satisfactory control performance, stabilizing the CO2 capture rate faster than LMPC by 60-100 min.

Time- and temperature-dependence of the anticorrosion effect of sodium sulfide on Q235 steel for post-combustion CO2 capture system

As a heat stable salt, sodium sulfide remains thermally-unregenerable during the regeneration process for post-combustion capture. Therefore, it became important to undertake a full assessment of its potential presence in the system. The paper investigates the mechanism and influence of sodium sulfide on the corrosion behavior of Q235 steel in amine-based post-combustion CO2 capture technology with respect to exposure time and temperature. The inhibitive influence of sulfide in the system was first confirmed by electrochemical techniques, while gravimetry was used to evaluate the effect of time and temperature on the inhibitive actions. SEM/EDX and XPS were used to characterize the corrosion product films on the steel surface. The behavior of sulfide was largely dependent on its concentration as its inhibition ability decreased with increasing concentration, and this is credited to the presence of FeS corrosion film layer. Time-dependent corrosion studies of steel conducted at 50 °C for the solution with 0.05 M and 0.1 M sulfide showed that the inhibition efficiency decreased from 89.1% and 75.0% to 82.4% and 68.6%, respectively, after 7 and 14 days immersion. At 80 °C, the inhibition efficiency of 0.05 M sulfide decreased from 89.1% to 48.9% after 7 days immersion and 82.4% to 46.1% after 14 days immersion. Together with FeS layer, FeCO3, Fe2O3 were also confirmed on the steel surface by XPS measurement. The research provides practical information on the influence of sulfide in the absorber and rich-lean heat exchanger sections of a CO2 capture unit.

Regeneration of Na2Q in an Electrochemical CO2 Capture System

The CO2 capture system based on the electrochemical desorption at room temperature and atmospheric pressure may solve the high regeneration energy consumption problem of the amine-based postcombustion CO2 capture technology. In our former work, 0.7 M Na2Q was used to absorb CO2, and the pH mediator, tiron (QH2), was used to adjust the pH of the solution during the redox process to desorb CO2 and regenerate the absorbent. However, the absorbent does not completely regenerate due to the poor reduction of Q. In this work, the regeneration of 0.05–0.7 M Na2Q and the modification of graphite felt (GF) electrodes were further investigated. The results show that the reproducibility and the cyclicality of the Na2Q solution with a lower concentration (0.1 M) are better than those of 0.7 M Na2Q under the same conditions. The GF electrodes after acid treatment, heat treatment, phosphorus-doped, or MnO2-modified improve their electrochemical activities under acidic and weakly alkaline conditions. Phosphorus-doped or MnO2-modified GF electrodes also significantly improve the redox reaction under strongly alkaline conditions. The process of CO2 capture combining the Na2Q regeneration with the CO2 absorption is proposed to improve the reducibility of Q. In addition, a possible electrochemical reaction process of the Na2Q system is proposed. QH2 is oxidized to produce Q, in which a 1,4-Michael reaction to produce sodium 1,2,4-trihydroxybenzene-3,5-disulfonate occurs. The byproduct tiron-o-quinone is also produced, which could further polymerize to form oligomers. During the reduction of high-concentration Na2Q, the oligomers precipitate out of the solution, resulting in inhibition of the reduction.

Influence of Particles on Amine Losses During CO2 Capture: A Process Simulation Coupled Aerosol Dynamics Model

Aerosol-driven solvent losses have been identified as one of the major challenges of amine-based post-combustion CO2 capture. In this work, a multi-component aerosol dynamics model based on the discrete-sectional approach, accounting for condensation and coagulation was coupled with a process simulation model developed using ASPEN PLUS v10® to account for the multi-component mass and heat transfer, hydrodynamics, thermodynamics, and electrolytic-solution chemistry. Particle losses inside the absorber were incorporated into the model based on a cut-off size determined from experiments reported in the literature. Based on the results, it was shown that neglecting particle losses inside the absorber resulted in a significant over-prediction of amine-based solvent losses, while coagulation of particles resulted in reduced (∼10%) amine emissions. Furthermore, amine emissions increased when the number concentration and the geometric standard deviation of inlet particles in the flue gas were increased. Moreover, it was shown that amine emissions were lower at lower solvent concentrations and temperatures. CO2 capture efficiency dropped for decreasing solvent concentration, but remained unchanged for lower temperatures, suggesting that decreasing the solvent temperature is an efficient strategy to reduce amine emissions.

Energy Performance of CO2 Capture Processes: Interaction Between Process Design and Solvent

Implementation of amine-based post-combustion CO2 capture on power plants would lead to large penalties on the electric production. Researches focus either on the improvement of process flow scheme to maximize exergy integration or on characterization of new promising solvents to reduce this energy consumption. However, both aspects are often taken into account separately whereas they should be studied simultaneously since the energy efficiency of process modifications also depends on the considered solvent. In order to highlight this point, several schemes based on modifications proposed in literature are investigated for several classes of amine-based solvents and the total energy consumption is determined by a rigorous phenomenological model coupled with an optimization algorithm. Simulation results confirms that the efficiency of process modifications depends on the considered solvent since process improvements make use of the solvent specific properties, in particular the differences between thermodynamic and kinetic properties. General understandings are given on the relative efficiency of process modifications according to measurable solvent properties. Carbon dioxide capture and geological storage is foreseen to be one of the solutions to reduce the atmospheric emissions of fossil-fired power plants. Among the different technologies, post-combustion chemical absorption in amine-based solvents is the most mature at this stage of development. However, the energy consumption of such processes implies a large penalty on the power plant efficiency. The reference configuration used for chemical absorption of CO2 is a conventional absorption/desorption loop operating with monoethanolamine (MEA) where the CO2 is separated from the flue gas by chemical absorption in the solvent and the solvent is thermally regenerated in a stripper, sensible heat being exchanged in an economizer between the hot lean solvent and the cold rich solvent. The released CO2 is then compressed up to 110 bars at supercritical state for transportation and storage. For this base case, the energy requirement leads to a loss of around 11 %-pts in terms of power plant efficiency. In order to reduce this penalty, researches focus either on the improvement of process flow scheme to maximize heat integration or on characterization of new promising solvents. This work intends to emphasize the interaction between solvent properties and optimal process design and how both solvent characterization and process design should be carried out simultaneously, since the energy performance of a process modification is deeply dependent of the chosen solvent. In order to highlight this point, several schemes based on modifications proposed in literature are investigated for two classes of amine-based solvents. For each process flow scheme associated with each solvent, the operating parameters are optimized with respect to the total energy consumption with a dedicated algorithm using rigorous thermodynamic and rate-based models, which are mandatory for a proper representation of all limiting phenomena. By this means, the potential of each configuration is determined in terms of total energy penalty on the power plant.

Marginal Abatement Cost Curve of Industrial CO2 Capture and Storage – A Swedish Case Study

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is expected to play a key role to achieve deep emission cuts in the energy intensive industry sector. The implementation of carbon capture comes with a considerable investment cost and a significant effect on the plants operating cost, which both depend on site conditions, mainly due to differences in flue gas flow and composition and depending on the availability of excess heat that can be utilized to power the capture unit. In this study we map the costs required to install and operate amine-based post-combustion CO2 capture at all manufacturing plants in Sweden with annual emissions of 500 kt CO2 or more, of both fossil and of biogenic origin, of which there are 28 plants (including a petrochemical site, refineries, iron and steel plants, cement plants and pulp and paper mills). The work considers differences in the investment required as well as differences in potential for using excess heat to cover the steam demand of the capture process. We present the resulting total CO2 capture costs in the form of a marginal abatement cost curve (MACC) for the emission sources investigated. Cost estimations for a transport and storage system are also indicated. The MACC shows that CO2 capture applied to 28 industrial units capture CO2 emissions corresponding to more than 50% of Swedish total CO2 emissions (from all sectors) at a cost ranging from around 40 €/t CO2 to 110 €/t CO2, depending on emission source. Partial capture from the most suited sites may reduce capture cost and, thus, may serve as a low-cost option for introducing CCS. The cost for transport and storage will add some 25 to 40 €/t CO2, depending on location and type of transportation infrastructure.

Evaluation of a New Chemical Mechanism for 2-Amino-2-methyl-1-propanol in a Reactive Environment from CSIRO Smog Chamber Experiments.

Amines are considered as an emerging class of atmospheric pollutants that are of great importance to atmospheric chemistry and new particle formation. As a typical amine, 2-amino-2-methyl-1-propanol (AMP) is one of the proposed solvents for capturing CO2 from flue gas streams in amine-based post-combustion CO2 capture plants, and it is expected to result in AMP emission and secondary product formation in the atmosphere. However, the current knowledge of its atmospheric chemistry and kinetics is poorly understood, particularly in a reactive environment. In this work, we used the CSIRO smog chamber to study the photo-oxidation of AMP in the presence of volatile organic compound (VOC)-NOx surrogate mixtures over a range of initial amine concentrations. O3 formation was significantly inhibited when AMP was added to the surrogate VOC-NOx mixtures, implying that AMP could alter known atmospheric chemical reaction pathways and the prevailing reactivity. Simultaneously, a large amount of AMP-derived secondary aerosol was formed, with a considerably high aerosol mass yield (i.e., ratio of aerosol formed to reacted AMP) of 1.06 ± 0.20. Based on updated knowledge of its kinetics, oxidation pathways, and product yields, we have developed a new mechanism (designated as CSIAMP-19), integrated it into the Carbon Bond 6 (CB6) chemical mechanism, and evaluated it against available smog chamber data. Compared with the existing AMP mechanism (designated as CarterAMP-08), the modified CB6 with CSIAMP-19 mechanism improves prediction against AMP-VOC-NOx experiments across a range of initial AMP concentrations, within ±10% model error for gross ozone production. Our results contribute to scientific understanding of AMP photochemistry and to the development of the chemical mechanism of other amines. Once some potential limitations are considered, the updated AMP reaction scheme can be further embedded into the chemical transport model for regional modeling scenarios where AMP-related emissions are of concern.

Dynamic analysis and linear model predictive control for operational flexibility of post-combustion CO2 capture processes

A key feature of amine-based post-combustion CO2 capture process is a wide operating range induced by periodic load changes in power plants, which necessitates flexible operation. One possible approach to enhance the operational flexibility is to design a reliable controller that can effectively regulate the process over the operating range. To this end, in this study, a robust model predictive controller is designed by analyzing the dynamic characteristics of a post-combustion CO2 capture process. Specifically, gap metric analysis is performed to analyze the sensitivity of the process. From this analysis, optimal operating conditions are identified by evaluating similarity among the dynamics around different operating conditions. Then, a single linear model predictive controller is designed on the basis of the linear approximation of the original nonlinear model at the chosen conditions. Finally, the effectiveness of the controller is illustrated through a case study on an example CO2 capture process.

Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) for Density and Viscosity Predictions of CO2 Loaded Alkanolamine + H2O Mixtures

The physical properties, like density and viscosity, of alkanolamine + H2O (water) + CO2 (carbon dioxide) mixtures receive a significant amount of attention as they are essential in equipment sizing, mathematical modelling and simulations of amine-based post-combustion CO2 capture processes. Non-linear models based on artificial neural networks (ANNs) were trained to correlate measured densities and viscosities of monoethanol amine (MEA) + H2O, MEA + H2O + CO2, and 2-amino-2-methyl-1-propanol (AMP) + MEA + H2O + CO2 mixtures and results were compared with conventional correlations found in literature. For CO2-loaded aqueous amine mixtures, results from the ANN models are in good agreement with measured properties with less than 1% average absolute relative deviation (AARD). The ANN-based methodology shows much better agreement (R2 > 0.99) between calculated and measured values than conventional correlations.

Modeling and performance analysis of subcritical and supercritical coal-fired power plants with biomass co-firing and CO2 capture

Coal-fired power plants are the largest source of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions into the atmosphere, and these emissions can be effectively reduced by improving the efficiency of the plants, co-firing sustainably grown biomass and applying carbon capture and storage technologies. In this study, the energy and environmental performances of both subcritical (SubC) and supercritical (SC) pulverized coal-fired power plants with biomass co-firing and integrated with an advanced amine-based postcombustion CO2 capture system were evaluated and compared. The impact of biomass (hybrid poplar) addition was investigated at different co-firing ratios varying up to 30% on a heat input basis. All plant configurations were modeled and simulated with Aspen Plus process simulation software. The results show that the use of a SC steam cycle has a positive impact on the energy and environmental performance of the investigated plants, improving the efficiency by 2.4% points and reducing the total fuel consumption and CO2 emissions by 6% in comparison to those of the SubC cases. Biomass co-firing has a negative impact on the energy performance of plants while significantly reducing fossil-based carbon emissions. The reduction of net CO2 emissions is almost proportional to the biomass percentage in the feed. At 30% biomass co-firing, the net plant efficiency is reduced by approx. 1% point, while the net CO2 emissions are 28% lower than those in coal-fired only plants. The introduction of CO2 capture has a major impact both on the emissions generated and on the energy efficiency. Depending on the plant type and co-firing ratio used, the net plant efficiencies are 8.7–9.3% points lower than those of non-capture cases. The net CO2 emissions achieve negative values when carbon is captured from the biomass co-firing plants.

Rate-Based Modelling and Validation of an Absorber and Stripper in an Amine-Based Post-Combustion CO 2 Capture Process

Carbon emissions capture and storage is regarded as an essential approach to mitigate the greenhouse effect led by carbon dioxide emissions from the fossil fuels combustion. Amine-based post-combustion CO2 capture technologies have great potential for retrofitting existing coal-fired power plants. In this paper, a mathematical model for a packed absorber and stripper in a CO2 capture process are developed. Typical aqueous monoethanolamine (MEA) with 30 wt.% concentration is selected as the absorbent. A rate-based method is implemented to represent the mass and heat transfer in carbon dioxide absorption and desorption processes. In addition, the heat of CO2 is derived by Gibbs-Helmholtz equation. In this way, the effect of chemical equilibrium and thermodynamic equilibrium on absorption capacity and absorption heat can be obtained. Finally, these models are validated by literature data in different plant operating conditions. The present mathematical models can be used to analyse the mass and heat transfer behaviour and to improve the overall performance of the CO2 process.

Amine-based CO2 capture aided by acid-basic bifunctional catalyst: Advancement of amine regeneration using metal modified MCM-41

The most critical challenge for the industrial implementation of amine solution CO2 capture is the high heat duty of rich solvent thermal regeneration. Despite significant efforts to lower energy consumption, including employing new amine solvents and process intensification, a novel approach of overcoming this challenge is still demanded. Here, we introduce a novel acid-basic bifunctional catalyst system to reducing the regeneration heat duty by adding metal modified MCM-41 catalyst into amine-based solution. MCM-41 was modified with three metals (Fe, Al, Mo) as well as with different Fe content for catalysis of the rich monoethanolamine (MEA) solvent regeneration process at 98 °C. Results reveal that all the catalysts accelerated regeneration process, and Fe2O3 modified MCM-41 (MFe) catalysts exhibited superior catalytic performance. Notably, the addition of MFe greatly improved the CO2 desorption performance (desorption factor) to 206.3–337.1% compared to the catalyst-free run. The excellent catalytic performance of MFe is ascribed to its improved Brϕnsted acid sites and increased basic sites. Additionally, MFe showed good cyclic stability and its use in the regeneration process enhanced the subsequent CO2 absorption performance. Furthermore, a plausible dual sites mechanism of catalytic amine solvent regeneration over MFe was proposed. Our results demonstrate that the acid-basic bifunctional catalyst plays significant role in developing the amine-based post-combustion CO2 capture technology and has important promise for real-world application.

Catalytic Characteristics of Metal Catalysts and Nitrate Salt of a Tripodal Ligand in a Basic Medium for Postcombustion CO2 Capture Process

Amine-based postcombustion CO2 capture technology has a great potential to control CO2 emissions but is expensive because a huge amount of thermal energy is required for solvent regeneration due to...

Mechanism Investigation of Advanced Metal-Ion-Mediated Amine Regeneration: A Novel Pathway to Reducing CO2 Reaction Enthalpy in Amine-Based CO2 Capture.

The high energy consumption of CO2 and absorbent regeneration is one of the most critical challenges facing commercial application of amine-based postcombustion CO2 capture. Here, we report a novel approach of metal-ion-mediated amine regeneration (MMAR) to advance the process of amine regeneration. MMAR uses the dual ability of amine to reversibly react with CO2 and reversibly complex with metal ions to reduce the enthalpy of the CO2 reaction, thus decrease the overall heat requirement for amine regeneration. To elucidate the mechanistic effects behind MMAR's ability to reduce CO2 reaction enthalpy, we developed a comprehensive chemical model describing the chemistry of Me(II)-monoethanolamine(MEA)-CO2-H2O system. The model was then validated using experimentally determined CO2 partial pressures via vapor-liquid equilibrium (VLE) measurements. We used the validated chemical model to gain insight into VLE behavior and solution chemistry, and to identify the specific changes in CO2 reaction enthalpy with and without metal ions. Two metals and five amines were evaluated in detail, which revealed that metal-ions with high complexation enthalpy and amines with large carbamate stability constant are preferred in MMAR, owing to their large reduction in reaction enthalpy and regeneration duty. We anticipate that MMAR could provide an alternative pathway to reducing the energy consumption of absorbent regeneration, ultimately making amine-based processes more technically and economically viable.

Metal oxide catalyst-aided solvent regeneration: A promising method to economize post-combustion CO2 capture process

Abstract Despite the in-depth understanding of the amine-based post-combustion CO2 capture technique gained by research efforts made over the decades, its large-scale practicality is hindered by extensive energy input in desorption and solvent degradation issues. The most thoroughly studied alkanolamine solvent, monoethanolamine (MEA), is still unable to capture a significant portion of CO2 emissions at a bearable economic penalty, owing to these serious drawbacks. Herein, we demonstrate catalytic regeneration of MEA solvent with five commercially available metal oxide catalysts Ag2O, Nb2O5, NiO, CuO, and MnO2 which would render this process suitable for achieving a bearable penalty. CO2-rich MEA solvent with an initial loading of 0.50 mol CO2/mol MEA was used in this study. A temperature range of interest was selected to perform the experiments in order to identify the optimal operating temperature for each of the catalysts used in this study. The results show that all of the catalysts used in this study improve the MEA regeneration where Ag2O presents the best regeneration performance followed by Nb2O5 by desorbing up to 3.6 and 2.5 times greater CO2 amounts with faster desorption rates, respectively. Overall, the results show that the MEA solvent can be regenerated at temperature as low as 80 °C, and hence a significant reduction in heat requirement for solvent regeneration is possible. Besides, at this temperature, thermal degradation of the solvent can be avoided completely. Furthermore, as a considerable improvement in the CO2 desorption rate and cyclic capacity is achieved by the catalytic regeneration process, the size of the stripper and the solvent circulation rate can be reduced, which will decrease the capital and operating cost as well.