MEA Solution Research Articles

Catalytic CO2 Desorption from MEA Solution of Al-FeOOH Composite Catalysts’ Desorption Performance, Structure–Activity Relationship, and New Mechanism

In order to reduce the massive heat duty of amine-based CO2 capture technology, an AlOOH/FeOOH composite catalyst (AF-M/N) was synthesized to speed up the CO2 desorption rates and reduce the heat duty of an aqueous MEA solution. The catalysis of AF-M/M from 1/9 to 9/1 was investigated comprehensively, with characterization of the catalytic desorption with heat duty and desorption factors. Results indicated the special composite catalyst (AF-1/9) possessed optimized catalysis with a relative heat duty of 78.7% and a desorption factor of 0.0037 × 10−3 (mol CO2/L2 kJ min) and relative desorption factor of 194.7%. The structure–activity correlations indicated that the mesopore surface area (MSA), which reached 329 m2/g, and Brϕnsted/Lewis acid ratio (B/L ratio) of 0.11 were the most important factors for enhancing catalysis. Furthermore, molecular simulations were conducted for the catalytic carbamate breakdown mechanism, focusing on the “isomerization” of “carbamate acid” vs. “Zwitterion” as the key step. From the DFT study, the isomerization was most likely to proceed with H2O as catalyst via intermolecular proton transfer instead of intramolecular proton transfer, with an activation energy Ea of 85.9 kJ/mol. With the aid of AlOOH the isomerization was further facilitated due to stabilized Zwitterion, and the Ea decreased to 69.2 kJ/mol. The results not only synthesized a new heterogeneous catalyst but also revealed the map of “isomerization” on a molecular level. Such a discovery indicates that water-assisted proton transfer is advantageous for catalytic carbamate breakdown.

Flow field of single CO2 bubbles freely rising in MEA solutions: The time-resolved PIV measurement and its effect on bubble mass transfer

Flow field of single CO2 bubbles freely rising in MEA solutions: The time-resolved PIV measurement and its effect on bubble mass transfer

CO2 capture performance of AMP-EAE amine blends: Absorption in the microchannel and desorption from saturated solutions

Blended organic amine solutions are considered an effective strategy for developing highly efficient and low energy-consuming absorbents due to the possibility of combining the advantages of single amine. The 2-amino-2-methyl-1-propanol (AMP) and 2-(ethylamino)ethanol (EAE) amine blends were prepared in three molar ratios: blend-1 (nAMP:nEAE = 3:1), blend-2 (nAMP:nEAE = 1:1), and blend-3 (nAMP:nEAE = 1:3). The impacts of gas-liquid flow rate, amine concentration, molar ratio, temperature, and CO2 concentration on absorption performance were investigated using the serpentine microchannel. Additionally, the effects of amine concentration and molar ratio on the desorption performance of saturated solutions were also explored. The performance of amine blends in absorption and desorption was evaluated by measuring absorption rate, efficiency, and loading, as well as desorption efficiency, energy consumption, cycle capacity, and average desorption rate. The desorption results were compared to those of the benchmark solvent, 30 wt% MEA, under identical operating conditions. The results indicate that the 25 wt% blend-2 solution performs exceptionally well, exhibiting a 15 % increase in absorption efficiency compared to the AMP aqueous solution at a gas-liquid ratio of 20. Additionally, the cycle capacity and average desorption rate are 1.7 times higher than those of the 30 wt% MEA solution. Notably, the energy consumption of the 25 wt% blend-2 solution for desorption is only 60 % of the 30 wt% MEA solution.

Understanding the Catalytic Effect on the CO2 Regeneration Performance of Amine Aqueous Solutions

To address the high energy consumption of the carbon capture and storage process in the shipping industry, the effects of several commonly used commercial catalysts, such as HZSM-5-25, γ-Al2O3, and SiO2, as well as a self-prepared catalyst, Zr-HZSM-5-25, on the regeneration of MEA solution and MEA + MDEA mixed solution were investigated in this paper. The results showed that Zr-HZSM-5-25 had the best catalytic effect on the regeneration process of the MEA aqueous solution, which could increase the instantaneous maximum CO2 regeneration rate of the MEA-rich solution by about 8.25% and the average regeneration rate by about 5.28%. For the MEA + MDEA mixed solution, the reaction between tertiary amine MDEA and CO2 produced a large amount of HCO3− in the reaction system, which could accelerate the release of CO2 to a large extent, which resulted in the catalytic effect of the Zr-HZSM-5-25 catalyst on the regeneration process of the mixed amine solution being significantly lower than that on the single MEA solution, with an increase of 4.91% in the instantaneous maximum regeneration rate. This instantaneous maximum regeneration rate was only increased by 4.91%. While Zr-HZSM-5-25 showed a better performance in the bench-scale test, it reduced CO2 regeneration energy consumption by 7.3%.

A novel non-aqueous tertiary amine system for low energy CO2 capture developed via molecular dynamics simulation

The current technology for capturing CO2 using alkanolamine aqueous solutions is known for its high energy and capital costs. As a result, developing new absorbents for low-energy CO2 removal remains a challenge. An additional activator can promote CO2 absorption performance. However, it is based on experimental screening. In this study, based on molecular dynamic simulation, we have successfully developed a novel and energy-efficient CO2 absorbent by combining N, N-Dimethylethanolamine (DMEA), and ethylene glycol (EG), with different activators, including ethanolamine (MEA), ethylenediamine (EDA), and piperazine (PZ). The addition of these activators significantly enhances the CO2 absorption performance of DMEA-based absorbents. Among them, DMEA-PZ-EG exhibits the maximum CO2 absorption rate and capacity, achieving 6.35 (g-CO2/(kg-soln.·min.)) and 96.5 (g-CO2/kg-soln.), respectively, representing a 230.1 % and 206.35 % improvement over 2M DMEA-EG absorbent. Moreover, compared to a 30 wt% MEA solution, the energy consumption of DMEA-based absorbents is reduced by 33.93–51.56 %. The reaction products were characterized using various spectroscopic techniques, including Attenuated Total Reflectance Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR), and 1D and 2D Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectroscopy (1H and 13C NMR). The NMR results confirmed that DMEA becomes protonated after CO2 absorption in the DMEA-EG mixture. The deprotonation of EG promote its reaction with CO2, resulting in the forming of EG carbonates. This assumption has been confirmed by the IR spectrum. Furthermore, the effect of activators on CO2 absorption has been analysed at the molecular level through molecular dynamics simulation and a new method is proposed to predict the CO2 absorption performance of non-aqueous solvents. Using non-aqueous DMEA absorbents presents a promising approach for improving CO2 capture efficiency, reducing energy consumption, and facilitating regeneration.

CFD Modeling of Reactive Absorption of CO2 by Aqueous MEA Solution in a Rotating Packed Bed

CFD Modeling of Reactive Absorption of CO₂ by Aqueous MEA Solution in a Rotating Packed Bed

Effect of NOX and SOX Contaminants on Corrosion Behaviors of 304L and 316L Stainless Steels in Monoethanolamine Aqueous Amine Solutions

This work is devoted to evaluating the corrosion behaviors of SS 304L and SS 316L in monoethanolamine solutions (MEA) containing SOX and NOX pollutants, examining both lean and CO2-loaded conditions at 25 °C and 40 °C. Electrochemical techniques (potentiodynamic and cyclic polarization) were used along with Scanning Electron Microscopy, Confocal Microscopy and weight loss measurements. The results reveal that the introduction of SOX and NOX pollutants increased the corrosion rate, whereas CO2 loading primarily reduced the corrosion resistance in the lean MEA solution, while its impact on solutions with SOX and NOX was less pronounced. This suggests that SOX and NOX play primary roles in the metal’s dissolution. Also, SS 316L demonstrated superior corrosion resistance compared to 304L in nearly all of the cases examined. Elevated temperatures were also found to intensify the corrosion rate, indicating a correlation between the corrosion rate and temperature. A microscopic observation and EDX analysis revealed that corrosion products are characterized by high concentrations of iron (Fe) and oxygen (O) as well as carbon (C). There is also an indication of the possible formation of amine complexes, suggesting a potential for amine degradation. No pitting corrosion was observed in SS 304L and SS 316L across any tested solution. Finally, the immersion results expose a tendency for passivity in all amine solutions and at both temperatures after several days of exposure. Moreover, they confirm the very low corrosion rate calculated from potentiodynamic curves due to minimal weight loss after 24 days of immersion.

A Novel Phase Change Absorbent for CO2 Capture with Low Viscosity and Effective Absorption–Desorption Properties

Excessive carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions can lead to environmental problems, and the use of phase change absorbents for CO2 capture has received much attention due to their excellent absorption and desorption properties. Herein, a novel liquid–liquid phase change absorbent consisting of N‐aminoethylpiperazine (AEP), diethylene glycol dimethyl ether (DEGDME), and H2O is utilized. Under the optimal absorption conditions, the absorption capacity is 1.23 mol CO2·mol−1 amine. The rich‐phase viscosity of the AEP/DEGDME/H2O solution is only 6.2 mPa s−1, and the rich phase‐to‐volume ratio is 52.7%, which is suitable for industrial applications. After five cycles of absorption–desorption experiments, the cyclic capacity reaches 0.62 mol CO2·mol−1 amine. However, it should be noted that this leads to an increase in the viscosity of the solution with time. The 13C Nuclear Magnetic Resonance characterization is used to analyze the material distribution and phase separation mechanism, and it is found that during the absorption process, the carbamate and carbonate products generated by the reaction of the amino group in the AEP with CO2 are mainly located in the rich phase, while the DEGDME and H2O mainly remain in the lean phase. In the desorption process, most of the absorbed products are decomposed, and the regeneration efficiency is 66.8%. Through the regeneration energy consumption experiment, when the regeneration efficiency is 56%–67%, the total regeneration energy consumption is 2.71–2.89 GJ t−1 CO2, which is 0.91–1.09 GJ t−1 CO2 lower than that of the regeneration efficiency of 30 wt% MEA solution at 63%, which indicates that this absorbent has certain energy‐saving advantages.

Facilitating proton-coupled electron transfer for energy-efficient CO2 desorption by C@ZrO2 hollow composites

Catalyst-aided CO2 desorption offers a promising reduction in the energy penalty of amine scrubbing, but faces the challenges of slow mass transfer, sluggish desorption kinetics, and susceptibility to deactivation. In this work, a hollow composite catalyst C@ZrO2 was developed to simultaneously realize rapid electron, proton and mass transfer for CO2 desorption via facilitating proton-coupled electron transfer (PCET) effect. The CO2 desorption rate of benchmark MEA solution increased by 126% and relative heat duty decreased by 69.9% in presence of C@ZrO2, and its catalytic performance didn’t noticeably decline after 10 cycles. Additionally, the desorption rate of biphasic solvents with a high viscosity increased by 112% and relative heat duty decreased by 57.3% with C@ZrO2. Based on theoretical calculation, the facilitated PCET efficiency of carbon layer increased the binding energy of carbamate to enhance its mass transfer rate from the liquid phase to the C@ZrO2 surface, and stretched the C-N bond to reduce the proton transfer energy barrier by 66.8%. This work provided a novel insight to design catalysts for energy-efficient and stable CO2 capture.

3D-CFD Modeling of Hollow-Fiber Membrane Contactor for CO2 Absorption Using MEA Solution.

Membrane technology is considered an innovative and promising approach due to its flexibility and low energy consumption. In this work, a comprehensive 3D-CFD model of the Hollow-Fiber Membrane Contactor (HFMC) system for CO2 capture into aqueous MEA solution, considering a counter-current fluid flow, was developed and validated with experimental data. Two different flow arrangements were considered for the gas mixture and liquid solution inside the HFMC module. The simulation results showed that the CO2 absorption efficiency was considerably higher when the gas mixture was channeled through the membranes and the liquid phase flowed externally between the membranes, across a wide range of gas and liquid flow rates. Sensitivity studies were performed in order to determine the optimal CO2 capture process parameters under different operating conditions (flow rates/flow velocities and concentrations) and HFMC geometrical characteristics (e.g., porosity, diameter, and thickness of membranes). It was found that increasing the membrane radius, while maintaining a constant thickness, positively influenced the efficiency of CO2 absorption due to the higher mass transfer area and residence time. Conversely, higher membrane thickness resulted in higher mass transfer resistance. The optimal membrane thickness was also investigated for various inner fiber diameters, resulting in a thickness of 0.2 mm as optimal for a fiber inner radius of 0.225 mm. Additionally, a significant improvement in CO2 capture efficiency was observed when increasing membrane porosity to values below 0.2, at which point the increase dampened considerably. The best HFMC configuration involved a combination of low porosity, moderate thickness, and large fiber inner diameter, with gas flow occurring within the fiber membranes.

A low energy consumption sono-microreactor for regeneration of MEA and MEA/AMP solutions

Ultrasound was applied to a microreactor for CO2 desorption from 30 wt% aqueous amine solutions. The ultrasonic transducer was attached directly to the microchannel in order to achieve the greatest ultrasound irradiation by the solution. The behavior of two-phase flow was assessed by a digital microscope camera, illustrating the formation of gas bubbles and its growing through the microchannel reactor. Effects of MEA concentration, solution flow rate, temperature, and ultrasonic wave’s power on the desorption rate and desorption percentage was evaluated. Desorption percentage showed a direct relationship with temperature, ultrasound power, and concentration of MEA solution but an inverse relationship with the flow rate. In addition to performing the regeneration process at lower temperatures than required by traditional procedures which can reduce solvent damage, 50 % energy saving was obtained using the designed contactor. In the next step, aqueous blended AMP/MEA solutions with two different ratios were assessed. For a 20 wt% AMP + 10 wt% MEA solution at 0.25 mL/min, an energy saving of about 62 % was achieved as compared to the conventional method's benchmark of 30 wt% MEA.

Selective CO2 separation through physicochemical absorption by triazole‐functionalized ionic liquid binary absorbents

AbstractThe selective separation of CO2 from CH4‐containing gases is crucial to produce clean energy gases. In this study, triazole anion‐functionalized ionic liquids (TAFILs) were designed by combining low molecular weight cations with triazole anions containing N electronegative site and further mixed with physical solvents to form physicochemical absorbents. The results indicated that [Cho][Triz]/TMS (80 wt%/20 wt%) not only absorbs 0.125 g CO2/g absorbent equal to that of 30 wt% MEA solution at 40°C and 1 bar, but also has low enthalpy of −35.76 kJ/mol less than half of 30 wt% MEA solution. Simultaneously, a super high CO2/CH4 selectivity of 191.0, higher than most of the reported absorbents, is obtained for [Cho][Triz]/TMS solvents. Such great performance of CO2 separation was attributed to relatively weak chemical and physical interaction between CO2 and TAFIL binary absorbents. This study may provide novel promising ionic liquid absorbents for CO2 capture applications from clean energy gases.

Biphasic solvents based on dual-functionalized ionic liquid for enhanced post-combustion CO2 capture and corrosion inhibition during the absorption process

To reduce the energy consumption for solvent regeneration and mitigate the corrosiveness of saturated solvents, dual-functionalized ionic liquid (IL) [DMAPA][TZ] was synthesized as a primary absorbent, and mixed with a phase separation accelerator poly (ethylene glycol) dimethyl ether (NHD) or propylene carbonate (PC) as biphasic solvents, to achieve high efficiency, energy savings, and corrosion inhibition of post-combustion CO2 capture. The results demonstrated a transition from a homogeneous solvent to a biphasic system upon CO2 absorption, with the majority of CO2 being concentrated in the rich phase, which is related to the formation of hydrogen bonds. Molecular dynamics analysis showed that interaction between the IL and PC is significantly stronger than that with NHD, resulting in a reduced absorption capacity of IL-PC relative to IL-NHD, while NHD effectively suppressed the formation of HCO3−/CO32−. At 373 K, both solvents exhibited efficient regeneration of their respective rich phases within 10 min. The calculated absorption enthalpies for IL-NHD and IL-PC are remarkably low at 0.662 and 0.772 GJ·t−1, respectively, and the regeneration energy consumption of IL-NHD was lower to 1.387 GJ·t−1. Notably, the phase separation accelerator exerts a significant influence on the phase-transition behavior and absorption products of biphasic solvents. Furthermore, ILs effectively inhibited corrosion through the adsorption-passivation mechanism; specifically, the corrosion rate of the CO2-rich phase in IL-NHD relative to 20# carbon steel was only 0.1896 mpy, which is only 1/865 of the rate of the saturated 5 M MEA solution.

Multiscale analysis for the utilization of CO2 towards the production of chemicals at the country level: Case study of Spain

This work evaluates a systematic comparison between the production of methanol and methane using CO2 and renewable hydrogen. CO2 is captured from point and dilute sources using aqueous MEA solutions and a conventional DAC process. Hydrogen is obtained through water electrolysis, powered by PV panels and wind turbines. First, a techno-economic evaluation is developed to detail the characteristics of the production facilities and the renewable energy systems. Finally, a Facility Location Problem (FLP) is developed to determine the centralized and decentralized CO2 use across Spain. This supply network is formulated as a mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) problem, selecting the optimal amount of CO2 to capture, the number and location of the facilities, the distribution of the PV panels for a fixed available area in the territory, and the number of wind turbines across the 47 Spanish peninsular provinces. Methanol is the selected product, with prices between 1,000–2,600 €/tMethanol. MEA solutions are preferred over DAC. Methane production is also considered through decentralized CO2 capture due to abundant CO2 availability and high transportation costs. A sensitivity analysis was performed, obtaining prices from 18.97 to 20.36 €/MMBTU to 8.90–9.09 €/MMBTU in the years 2022 and 2050, covering 5 times the methane production for that period. The implementation of carbon taxes could lower methane prices to around 2–3 €/MMBTU by 2050, aligning closely with natural gas prices.

Multi-stage solvent circulation absorption enhancement: System optimization for energy-saving CO2 capture

One of the major barriers in industrial applications of solvent-based CO2 capture is the significant energy consumption required for absorbent regeneration. In this study, a novel multi-stage circulation (MSC) CO2 absorption process was proposed, which implemented independent regulation of each stage, resulting in enhanced CO2 capture performance and reduction of CO2 regeneration duty. The MSC absorber was designed with four stages from bottom to top, each serving distinct functions, including CO2 enrichment, CO2 main absorption, CO2 capture efficiency enhancement and aerosol capture. Simulation of the MSC process achieved a rich ethanolamine (MEA) solvent CO2 loading of 0.512–0.570 mol CO2/mol amine, which was 8.1 %–9.9 % higher than typical process. The effects of test duration, amine solution flow rates, reaction temperatures and inlet CO2 concentrations on CO2 absorption performance were studied using the MSC experimental platform. The CO2 regeneration duty reduced by over 13.2 % of the MSC process compared to a typical process using 25 wt% MEA solution and by over 22.9 % using piperazine (PZ)/N-methyldiethanolamine (MDEA) solution. Furthermore, the utilization of NH3/K2CO3 solution achieved an energy consumption reduction of over 41.7 %, resulting in a CO2 regeneration duty as low as 2.02 GJ/t CO2 (1.84 GJ/t CO2, subtracting the heat loss). Meanwhile, potential strategies for optimizing parameters of MSC process were proposed to address the complex and volatile conditions.

Theoretical and experimental analysis of CO2 capture into 1,5-diamino-2-methyl-pentane/n-propanol non-aqueous absorbent regulated by ethylene glycol

The non-aqueous amine solvents for CO2 capture gaine an advantage in energy-saving potential, but with a sharp increase viscosity after saturated absorption would easily cause problems such as equipment scaling and pipe blockage. In the present work, the ethylene glycol (EG) was used as co-solvent and activator to regulate the non-aqueous absorbent of 1,5-diamino-2-methyl-pentane (DA2MP) and n-propanol (PrOH) for CO2 capture. The absorption loading of the mixture solution was 1.13 mol·mol−1 when the mass concentration of DA2MP was 25 wt% and the volume ratio of PrOH to EG was 8:2. By activated by EG, the viscosity of the saturated solution was only 9.05 mPa·s, which changed from viscous precipitation to clarify liquid compared with that of DA2MP/PrOH. The absorbent maintained 90.30% of its initial CO2 absorption loading after 10th cycle regeneration under 393.15 K for 60 min. According to the quantum chemical calculations and experimental results, the reaction and regulation mechanism of CO2 capture into DA2MP/PrOH/EG was clarified. In DA2MP-PrOH solution, CO2 firstly reacted with DA2MP to form carbamate, and them the product further reacted with PrOH to form alkyl carbonates, which was viscous and insoluble due to the high intermolecular force between the CO2 products. After adding appropriate amount of EG, the solubility of insoluble products in solvent was increased through weakening the intermolecular interaction of products and enhancing the intermolecular interaction between products and solvents, which further converted them into soluble alkyl carbonate and realized viscosity reduction. The regeneration heat duty of DA2MP/PrOH/EG solution was estimated as 1.58 GJ·ton−1 CO2, which was 29.5% and 58.42% less than that of DA2MP/PrOH and bench mark MEA solution, respectively, indicating a alternative candidate for CO2 capture.

A review of CO2 catalytic regeneration research based on MEA solution

In recent years, the rapid increase of CO2 emission has caused severe environmental issues. The environmental concern has made how to reduce the carbon emissions become a hot topic. Many scholars and research teams believe that the organic amine chemical absorption technology is the most favored and promising carbon capture technology due to its highly CO2 removal effectiveness. However, it is not applied wildly in industrial environment since the desorption process energy consumption is too much, over 4 GJ/t CO2. Many researchers report that catalysts can help to reduce the desorption energy. And it is generally assumed that four key properties of solid acid catalysts determined the performance of solid acid catalysts in the process of CO2 desorption: the total number of acid sites; specific surface area; the ratio of Brønsted acid sites to Lewis acid sites; the amount of Brønsted acid sites. Therefore, this paper reviews the recent research on the effect of different catalysts on the energy consumption of CO2 desorption and the progress of research on improving catalyst performance. Also, it provides views on the possible problems in practical industrial applications.

Catalytic regeneration of amine-based absorbents for CO2 capture: The effect of acidic sites and accessibility

The high regeneration energy consumption is the bottleneck problem for the large-scale application of organic amine absorption method. Catalytic regeneration has received a lot of attention because it can be done at low temperatures using solid acid catalysts. Although the catalytic activity of the catalysts presently reported is exceptional, the exorbitant cost renders this technology unsuitable for industrial implementation.The present work uses a composite metal oxide solid acid catalysts for the catalytic regeneration of a CO2-rich 5 M MEA solution at 90 °C. The findings indicate that the inclusion of SO42-/ZrTiOx catalyst resulted in a 99% increase in CO2 desorption rate, a 43% improvement in cyclic capacity, and a 29.09% reduction in relative heat duty when compared to the blank experiment. The catalyst underwent characterization through BET, NH3-TPD, and Py-IR techniques, revealing that its superior catalytic performance can be attributed to its substantial mesoporous specific surface area and significant concentration of acid sites. The catalytic effect and catalytic mechanism of SO42-/ZrTiOx were confirmed using 13C NMR spectroscopy. The stability of the SO42-/ZrTiOx catalyst during regeneration was investigated in five cycles and the cause of catalyst deactivation was investigated by FT-IR. The results show that the SO42-/ZrTiOx catalyst has high catalytic activity and low cost, and has potential for large-scale industrial applications.

An intensified low-energy ultrasonic plug reactor for CO2 desorption from single and novel blended absorbents

Ultrasound as an efficient emerging technology for CO2 desorption enhancement has attracted great attention in recent years. In the present study, a mini-plug reactor was equipped with a 28 kHz ultrasound transducer and employed for CO2 stripping from different amine-based solutions. First, 30 wt% aqueous solutions of MEA, DEA, DIPA and MDEA were investigated under the effect of desorption temperature and flow rate of the solution. 26.4% energy saving and around 70% enhancement in desorption was reached for MEA at 55℃ using ultrasound irradiation. Some novel tri-solvent blends were also studied in the optimum temperature. Among four blended amine solutions, new aqueous solution of MEA+DIPA+AMP showed the maximum desorption rate of 84.2% and minimum regeneration energy of 2.7 MJ/kgCO2 using the designed ultrasound-equipped plug reactor. It was concluded that CO2 desorption from the MEA+DIPA+AMP blend could reduce required energy consumption by around 35% compared to 30 wt% MEA using conventional method. The present study provided an efficient intensified desorber as well as a kind of tri-solvent blend as a brilliant system for CO2 capture process at lower temperature than conventional.

Exergy and economic analysis of the trade-off for design of post-combustion CO2 capture plant by chemical absorption with MEA

CO2 abatement strategies are crucial in any industrial cluster. In post-combustion capture solutions, the high-energy consumption and the cost associated with the operation are the main drawbacks. In this work, a chemical absorption system using a 30% MEA solution was modeled to process 3,240 t/h of flue gases with 12% CO2 content, and evaluated for design insights and their potential cost reduction and fewer energy losses, thus providing a screening tool for design and scale-up. Thermodynamic analysis showed that regulating the inlet temperature of the stripper column was pivotal in decreasing exergy destruction and heat consumption. A trade-off analysis allowed tracing their influence on system metrics, with absorber parameters being critical. Nevertheless, minimizing the Levelized Cost of CO2 Capture proved to be a more suitable metric for decision-making compared to either heat consumption or exergy efficiency. Solutions were ranked based on TOPSIS tool, which confirmed the most relevant design parameters. The potential operational expense savings (20 USD/t CO2), and thermodynamic improvement (52%), were achieved. Although capture cost values are within the expected industrial range for mature capture technologies (70 USD/t CO2), these are still far away from current taxes and levers for curbing emissions.