Huancong Shi

Heterogeneous catalysis of CO 2 -diethanolamine absorption with MgCO 3 and CaCO 3 and comparing to non-catalytic CO 2 -monoethanolamine interactions

The solid catalysts, CaCO3 and MgCO3, were adopted to accelerate CO2 absorption with diethanolamine (DEA) solvent. It turned out that these solid alkaline earth metal carbonates can accelerate CO2 absorption, with overall time reduction up to 14–28% for CaCO3, and 11–28% for MgCO3. After comparing CO2 loadings and time resolved amine concentrations, the solid chemicals can enhance the CO2 absorption of DEA and became compatible with the monoethanolamine (MEA) solution at the same CO2 loading without catalysts. The Lewis base can serve as heterogeneous catalysts for the amine scrubbing process and then facilitate CO2 absorption. These results indicated the heterogeneous catalysts can partly cover the shortage of DEA with CO2 absorption, and facilitate the amine scrubbing process with shorter column with ease.