Mass transfer performance of carbon dioxide absorption in a packed column using monoethanoleamine-Glycerol as a hybrid solvent

Environmental concerns caused by chemical solvents need be managed through the advantages of hybrid bio-sourced solvents for CO2 capture. On the other side, to accurately predict the height of a CO2 absorption packed column, it is essential to estimate the mass transfer coefficients. This paper provides the experimental results of mass transfer performance of the aqueous mixture of MEA + Glycerol, as an industrially eco-friendly hybrid solvent, instead of a typical commercial alkanolamine solvent for CO2 capture in a laboratory-scale absorption packed column. For the first time, a predictive statistical model was built to investigate the influence of process variables, involving absorption temperature (30-45 degrees C), inlet gas flow rate (4-6 L/min), the initial solvent concentration of glycerol (5-15 wt %), and MEA (10-30 wt %) on the CO2 removal efficiency (e(f)), and the volumetric overall gas-phase mass transfer coefficient (K(G)a(V)) in the CO2 +MEA + Glycerol system. The results of CO2-absorption showed that rising the glycerol concentration from 5 % to 15 % enhances the values of e(f) and K(G)a(V) by 4.5 % and 24.62 %, respectively, when the other three variables are considered fixed at their midpoints. Therefore, the presence of glycerol, as the promoter in a hybrid mixture of MEA-Gly, significantly gives rise to the mass transfer coefficient and CO2 removal efficiency. (C) 2020 Institution of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

This study investigates the mass transfer performance of the aqueous mixture of MEA + Glycerol as a hybrid solvent for CO2 capture in a laboratory-scale absorption packed column. Results show that increasing glycerol concentration enhances CO2 removal efficiency and mass transfer coefficient, providing key parameters for accurately predicting the height of a CO2 absorption packed column.