Influence of desulphurization in the carbon dioxide absorption process using monoethanolamine

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to determine the influence of desulphurization on process efficiency and monoethanolamine (MEA) absorption capacity. The experiment was conducted on a circulating fluidized bed combustion (CFBC) which uses indigenous coal from Jiu Valley. We determined the absorption capacity of MEA considering three values of concentrations in the solution: 20%, 30% and 40%. It was noticed that the higher the concentration of MEA is in the solution, the greater is the influence in the efficiency of the desulphurization process on the absorption capacity of MEA. Therefore, the increase in the efficiency of the desulphurization process from 68 to 98% leads to the increase of the amount of CO2 rich loading solvent by 0.172 g CO2/gMEA for a concentration of 20% and by 0.25g CO2/gMEA for a concentration of 40%. Considering an optimal desulphurization (1 % NaOH), the efficiency of the CO2 capture process was of 85% irrespective of the MEA concentration in the solvent. However, the minimum energy consumption is obtained for the optimal concentration of 40% (3 GJ / tonne of CO2).