Catalytic CO₂ Capture Performance of a MEA-EAE-DEEA Trisolvent in a Hot Silicon Oil-Based Pilot Plant

Abstract

To implement an energy-efficient combination of CO 2 capture technology, the pilot plant studies were conducted in preparation of commercialization of CCUS demonstration plants, during which a set of specific amine blends with various catalytic packing was employed. To achieve the best performance in a novel hot silicon oil-based lab-scale CO 2 absorption−desorption pilot facility, this study focused on the steadystate CO 2 absorption−desorption performance of the trisolvent MEA (monoethanol amine)-EAE (2-(ethylamino)ethanol)-DEEA (N,N-diethylethanolamine) at a specific concentration of 4.5 mol/L, with the combination of two types of solid base catalysts (CaCO 3 and CaMg(CO 3 ) 2 ) and solid acid catalysts (HND-580 and HND-8) under specific operation conditions. Evaluation of the steady-state analysis was based on three key parameters: absorption efficiency (AE), cyclic capacity (CC), and heat duty (HD). Results indicated cyclic capacity enhancement and significant heat duty reduction with solid acid−base catalysts compared to noncatalytic benchmarks. The optimal concentration ratio was 0.5 + 2 + 2 mol/L MEA-EAE-DEEA, with the addition of 150 g of HND-8 + 40 g of CaMg (CO 3 ) 2 , an F G of 8 L/min, and an F L of 60 mL/min. Under the optimized conditions, the heat duty was decreased from 3.0 to 2.46 GJ/t CO 2 over the noncatalytic benchmark.■ HIGHLIGHTS 1 The newly designed pilot plant used hot silicone oil as the heat source for the first time. 2 The catalytic and noncatalytic CO 2 absorption− desorption performances were conducted on a trisolvent of 4.5 mol/L MEA-EAE-DEEA in a bench-scale pilot plant to investigate the AE, CC, and HD under optimized operation conditions. 3 The solid acid (HND-8) and solid base (CaMg(CO 3 ) 2 ) catalysts synergistically enhanced absorption efficiency, cyclic capacity, and heat duty reduction of the system with the desorption heat duty reduced to 2.46 GJ/tCO 2 .