Performance of Carbon Dioxide Absorption into Monoethanolamine Solution in a Spray Chamber

Carbon dioxide (CO2) capture technology is considered an effective method to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions from industrial sources and mitigate the global warming problem. Currently, CO2 absorption is the most promising method for CO2 capture. Although many different types of amine can be used for this process, monoethanolamine (MEA) is considered as a common solvent due to its high reaction rate with CO2. The spray chamber is one of the most efficient gas-liquid contactors that can be used effectively for CO2 capture. In this thesis, mass-transfer performance of a spray chamber for CO2 absorption into MEA solution was measured experimentally. The experiments were conducted over ranges of process and design parameters, including gas flow rate (100-200 L/min), liquid flow rate (0.48-2.20 L/min), CO2 loading (0-0.5 mol/mol), CO2 partial pressure (5.6 kPa-15.2 kPa), number of nozzles, and nozzle arrangement. The spray nozzle used was P-28 with fine atomization from BETE○R. The number of nozzles was varied from 3 to 5.Different nozzle arrangements were applied to evaluate the mass transfer performance with different spray nozzles’ locations, numbers and angles. The performance of the spray was translated into the volumetric overall mass-transfer coefficient (KGae), the mass-transfer flux, and the mass-transfer area (Ae). The mass-transfer performance obtained from the experiments was then translated into a mass-transfer correlation. This step was completed on the basis of absorption kinetics and characterization of spray droplets. The experimental results show that, partial pressures, liquid flow rate, and CO2 loading have significant impacts on mass transfer rate (RCO2). The increase in liquid flow rate from 0.48 to 1.50 L/min improves the RCO2 by 4 to 5 times. When the CO2 loading increases from 0.05 to 0.45 mol/mol, the RCO2 value reduces by 75% to 85%. The increase in gas flow rate has no significant effect on mass transfer performance. However, the increase in partial pressure from 5.6 kPa to 15.2 kPa enhances the mass transfer rate by 3 times. The liquid flow rate helps increase the number of liquid droplets, and contacting area between gas and liquid, promoting more absorption rate. The CO2 loading of MEA solution has a great impact on mass transfer rate, but small impacts on the mass-transfer area. The nozzle arrangements with different spray locations and angles can provide an enhancement for the mass transfer performance. At a given total liquid flow rate, the three-nozzle spray has a 30% higher performance than five-nozzle spray for both mass transfer rate and mass transfer coefficient.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Applied Science (MASc)

Level thesis:degree_level

Master's

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Engineering - Environmental Systems

Grantor dc:publisher

Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research, University of Regina

Year dc:date.issued

2018

Author dc:creator

• Fang, Zhuomin

Advisors dc:contributor.advisor

• Veawab, Amornvadee
• Aroonwilas, Adisorn

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Ng, Tsun Wai Kelvin
• Young, Stephanie

Language dc:language.iso

en

DOI

https://doi.org/10.82465/3740

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:uregina.scholaris.ca:10294/8851