Experimental measurement and modeling of the rate of absorption of carbon dioxide by aqueous ammonia

In this work, the rate of absorption of carbon dioxide by aqueous ammonia solvent has been studied by applying a newly built wetted wall column. The absorption rate in aqueous ammonia was measured at temperatures from 279 to 304 K for 1 to 10 wt% aqueous ammonia with loadings varying from 0 to 0.8 mol CO2/mol NH3. The absorption rate in 30 wt% aqueous mono-ethanolamine (MEA) was measured at 294 and 314 K with loadings varying from 0 to 0.4 as comparison. It was found that at 304 K, the rate of absorption of carbon dioxide by 10 wt% NH3 solvent was comparable to the rates for 30 wt% MEA at 294 and 314 K (a typical absorption temperature for this process). The absorption rate using ammonia was however significantly lower at temperatures of 294 K and lower as applied in the Chilled Ammonia Process. However, at these low temperatures, the rate of absorption in ammonia has only a small temperature dependency. The rate of absorption decreases strongly with decreasing ammonia concentrations and increasing CO2 loadings. The rate of absorption of carbon dioxide by aqueous ammonia solvent was modeled using the measurements of the unloaded solutions and the zwitter-ion mechanism. The model could successfully predict the experimental measurements of the absorption rate of CO2 in loaded ammonia solutions. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.