Designing CO₂ Absorption Columns with Activated Amine Solutions

• Main Author: Michael Schultes
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: AIDIC Servizi S.r.l. 2018-10-01
• Series: Chemical Engineering Transactions
• Online Access: https://www.cetjournal.it/index.php/cet/article/view/9146

CO2 absorption into chemical solvents has been a growing industrial market for decades. Currently, activated methyldiethanolamines (aMDEAs) in aqueous solutions are quite often used as solvents. There are several amine compositions available on the market, and most often these solvents are activated. For designing a CO2 absorption tower with activated amine, the chemical reaction in the liquid phase must be considered properly. At the column top, the fully reactive amine enters the column, whereby at the column bottom, the solvent is almost inactive. The highly exothermic CO2 reaction with the activated amine generates heat in the solvent, leading to temperature peaks along the tower. This paper will discuss especially structured and random packings used in industrial CO2 chemisorption columns. It will disclose information about packing characteristics and parameters to look at for selecting the preferred device. The paper will also discuss prediction models recommended for use with such processes.