Kinetics of Carbon Di-oxide Absorption in Aqueous Amine Solution

1. INTRODUCTION

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), emission of greenhouse gas (GHG) must be
reduced by 50% to 80% by 2050 to circumvent intense consequences of global warming. Green-house gas emissions
(GHG) will rise the average global temperature by 1.1 to 6.40 C by the end of the 21st century, as stated by the IPCC. A
global warming with average temperature increment of more than 2o C will lead us to severe consequences, and IPCC
has therefore specified that GHG emissions should be reduced by 50 to 80% by 2050 [1]. The consequences of too high
global warming will be melting of glaciers, leading to reduced water and food resources. The sea level will rise, and
there will be more extreme weather, more draughts, and more floods. CO2 is the most important greenhouse gas, and
anthropogenic CO2 emissions are mainly a consequence of fossil fuels being the most important global energy sources
[1].

Carbon dioxide (CO2) capture is a process consisting of the separation of CO2 from industrial and energy-related sources
for long-term isolation from the atmosphere and to restore in a preferred location [2]. CO2 capture and appropriation
from fossil fuel power plants is gaining widespread concern as a prospective method to control greenhouse gas emissions
[3]. The widespread application of CO2 Capture and its Storage system would depend on technical maturity, costs,
overall potential, diffusion and transfer of the technology to developing countries and their capacity to apply the
technology, regulatory aspects and environmental issues. However, CO2 capture technology has the potential to reduce
overall mitigation costs and increase exibility in achieving greenhouse gas emission reductions [2].

The still rising demand for energy and the increase in CO2 emissions typically involved has become one of the most
important environmental topics [4]. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is the most principal greenhouse gases emitted in comparison
with the other greenhouse gases. In the future, the concentration in the atmosphere will increase and CO 2 will continue
to pose significant danger to the climatic system [5].

Many solutions are realized or investigated to trap carbon dioxide. There are different types of CO2 capture systems
(Figure 1). The concentration of CO2 in the gas stream, the pressure of the gas stream and the fuel type (solid or gas)
are important factors in selecting the capture system [2].
a) Post-Combustion: Post-combustion capture of CO2 in power plants is economically feasible under specific
conditions. It is used to capture CO2 from part of the ue gases from a number of existing power plants.
b) Pre-Combustion: The technology required for pre-combustion capture is widely applied in fertilizer
manufacturing and in hydrogen production. Although the initial fuel conversion steps of pre-combustion are more
elaborate and costly, the higher concentrations of CO2 in the gas stream and the higher pressure make the separation
easier.
c) Oxy-fuel Combustion: Oxy-fuel combustion is in the demonstration phase and uses high purity oxygen. This
results in higher concentrations of CO2 in the gas stream and, henceforth, it will be easier in separation of CO2 and in
increased energy requirements in the separation of oxygen from air.

Post-combustion CO2 capture technology is the most mature solution [5]. In order to reduce the environmental impact
of power generation from fossil fuels, CO2 can be captured either from the syngas stream that is to be burned or from
the flue gases exiting the energy conversion process. Post-combustion capture has the advantage that it can be applied
for retrofitting existing power plants [4]. The removal of acid gas contaminations, like CO2 and H2S, from natural,
synthesis gas streams and refinery is a substantial operation in gas processing industry. Most frequently such sweetening
of sour gas streams is done by the regenerative chemical absorption of the acid gas components into solution of
alkanolamines [6]. The most mature technology of CO2 absorption in gas purification processes uses amines such as
Mono-ethanolamine (MEA) as absorbent [7]. Actually, absorption with amine-based solvents has been extensively
studied and regarded as the most effective technology for CO2 capture. Amine-CO2 reaction can be reversed by
increasing the temperature. CO2 capture is based on using various alkanolamines solutions like mono-ethanolamine
(MEA), N-methyl-di-ethanolamine (MDEA), Di-ethanolamine (DEA) or 2-amino-2-methyl-1-propanol (AMP). As
primary amine, MEA, and secondary amine, DEA, have a high kinetics reaction with CO2 and high regeneration energy.
Now MDEA which is a tertiary amine, has a high CO2 loading capacity, a low regeneration cost and low reaction kinetics
with CO2. There is another kind of amine which is called sterically hindered amine, like AMP, which has the same
characteristics than tertiary amine (high CO2 loading capacity). The benchmark amine, 30wt% MEA solution, has a
good characteristics reaction with CO2. Indeed, this amine reacts rapidly with CO2 and has a high CO2 absorption
capacity. However, its commercial deployment is still limited by a number of techno-economic factors as discussed
elsewhere [4 & 8-11].

Here our main objective is to determine the kinetics of the CO2 absorption process in institutional laboratory using
aqueous amine solution and to observe the rate of reactions and its reaction kinetics considering absorption capacity of
the reactor through the most possible, feasible and economical way.

Fig 1. Schematic Representation of various CO2 Capture Processes [2].

2. REFERENCES

[1] http://bellona.org/news/ccs/2007-10-why-co2-capture-and-storage-ccs-is-an-important-strategy-to-reduce-
global-co2-emissions.
[2] IPCC. IPCC Special Report on Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage. Prepared by Working Group III of the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Metz, B.O. Davidson, H. C. de Coninck, M. Loos, and L. A. Meyer (eds.)].
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