The kinetic performance of a novel amine solvent blend BEA-AMP was compared with MEA and blended MEA-MDEA in the presence and absence of a solid acid catalyst (HZSM-5) in the desorber column of a bench-scale pilot plant. In addition, a total of seven solid base catalysts were screened using a semibatch reactor to select the one that is most suitable as catalyst for amine-based CO 2 absorption. The selected solid base catalyst, K/MgO, was placed in the absorber of the pilot plant. Overall, three absorber-desorber catalytic scenarios were evaluated: blank−blank, blank-HZSM-5, and K/MgO-HZSM-5. For the blank−blank and blank-HZSM-5 scenarios, the novel solvent (4 M BEA-AMP) outperformed 5 M MEA and 7 M MEA-MDEA blend despite BEA-AMP having the lowest molarity. The rates of absorption and desorption for the blank−blank (noncatalytic) scenario for BEA-AMP were 14.8 and 38.4 mol/m 3 min, respectively. For the blank-HZSM-5 system, the rates were 18.1 and 45.6 mol/m 3 min, respectively. Absorption and desorption rates of 29.7 and 62.4 mol/m 3 min, respectively, were obtained for the K/MgO-HZSM-5 system. These results reveal higher rates of absorption and desorption with the inclusion of solid base and solid acid catalysts to the amine-based CO 2 capture process. The results show that in the presence of the amine, the electron-rich anion species in K/ MgO easily attack the dissolved CO 2 . This interaction ties the CO 2 molecules to the surface of the catalyst, making them readily available for nitrogen atom of the amine in the CO 2 absorption process. This process is facilitated because of the large pore size of K/MgO. With the desorber catalyst, easier proton donation by HZSM-5 results in weakening the N−C bond in carbamate, which thereby causes CO 2 to break away.