Analyzing the potential benefits of trio-amine systems for enhancing the CO2 desorption processes

The challenge for the carbon dioxide (CO2) capture by using amine solution is the huge energy cost in solvent regeneration process, this work combined the advantages of three conventional amines, monoethanolamine (MEA), 1-Dimethylamino-2-propanol (1DMA2P), and piperazine (PZ) to formulate an effective trio-amine blend to capture CO2, and the results demonstrate that the blends could reduce the energy consumption by 29.4-55.4%, increase the average desorption rate by 60-140%, and increase the cyclic capacity by 40-120%, relative to 5 M MEA solution. Through analysis the regeneration mechanism in detail, it is found that more proton provider in the trio-amine blends could help to reduce the energy consumption by lower the reaction activation energy in the deprotonation process of the protonated amines. Finally compared to the reported amine systems in considering of the energy cost, it is found that the MEA-1DMA2P-PZ could be a potential candidate for capturing CO2 in industrial.

Automated summary

This study developed an effective trio-amine blend by combining three conventional amines, which significantly reduced the energy consumption and improved the efficiency of CO2 capture. Detailed analysis of the regeneration mechanism revealed that increasing the proton provider in the blend could lower the energy consumption. Compared to reported amine systems, MEA-1DMA2P-PZ showed potential for industrial-scale CO2 capture.