Carbon Dioxide Absorption Characteristics of Blended Monoethanolamine and 2-Amino-2-methyl-1-propanol

The removal of carbon dioxide (CO₂) can be achieved by a number of techniques, among which absorption into aqueous alkanolamines is recognized as a commercially viable option for absorbing from high volume gas streams. In this present work, mass-transfer characteristics of blended Monoethanolamine and 2-Amino-2-methyl-1-propanol (MEA-AMP) solution are studied in a bench-scale absorber packed with high-efficiency structured packing. The experiments were conducted under atmospheric pressure, using a simulated gas mixture containing 15% CO_2. The packed absorber was operated at different temperatures, i.e. 25degC, 30degC, 40degC, and 50degC while the gas- and liquid-velocities were kept constant at 100 kmol/m³-hr and 5 m³/m²-hr, respectively. The total alkanolamine concentration was 5.0 kmol/m³. The MEA/AMP mixing ratio and CO₂ loading of the blended solution were varied from 1:2 to 2:1 and from 0.0 to 0.54 mol/mol, respectively. From the trends, it was observed that the absorption rate increased with the increased proportion of MEA in the blend. Higher temperatures resulted in higher absorption rates while higher CO₂ loadings exhibited lower absorption rates.