Pilot Plant Study of Novel AMP–Based Amine Solvent Blend for CO2 Capture: Rich Amine Loading, Absorption Rate, Absorber Overall Volumetric Mass Transfer Coefficient and Amine Cost

This pilot plant study covered the CO2 absorption potential of a novel bi-solvent blend containing AMP and 1,5–diamino–2–methylpentane (DA2MP). The CO2 concentration was kept at 15.1 vol.% to represent the flue gas from a coal-fired power plant. The simulated flue gas flow rate and the amine volumetric flow rate were 14 SLPM and 50 ml/min respectively. Comparative CO2 absorption analysis was conducted for the AMP-DA2MP blend and MEA (5 kmol/m3 or 30 wt.%). The concentration of AMP is 2 kmol/m3 while that of DA2MP was varied from 2 kmol/m3 to 3 kmol/m3 making the total concentration 4 kmol/m3 and 5 kmol/m3. The comparative analysis is based on rich amine loading, CO2 absorption rate, absorber overall mass transfer coefficient, and initial amine solution cost. The parametric effect of lean amine loading on the above-mentioned parameters was also investigated. Pilot plant results showed that the rich amine loading, CO2 absorption rate and absorber mass transfer coefficient of the AMP-DA2MP blend is higher than the single solvent MEA. However, the initial amine solution cost of MEA is discovered to be lower than the AMP-DA2MP blend. For all the amine solutions studied, increase in lean amine loading resulted in an increase in rich amine loading, decrease in absorber mass transfer coefficient, decrease in CO2 absorption rate and increase in initial amine solution cost. Importantly, higher lean amine loadings of the amine blend have higher CO2 absorption rate and higher absorber mass transfer coefficient compared to lower lean loadings of MEA. Overall, it is an early indication that the AMP-DA2MP blend will offer a cost-effective CO2 capture compared to the benchmark MEA solvent.