(48b) Amine Vapor Emissions Control Technology for Water-Lean Solvents for Point Source CO2 Capture

Water-lean solvent (WLS) systems are an emerging technology for point source CO₂ capture. Although the technology shows a decrease in energy consumption over aqueous solvents, an increase in amine emissions presents new environmental and economic challenges for the technology. The development of economical and effective amine emissions control technologies (ECT) is critical for the advancement and commercialization of WLS systems. One ECT in development is an advanced water or organic wash system, which is capable of reducing amine content in flue gas to < 1 ppm leaving the CO₂ capture system. The novel wash system includes a sorbent bed that recovers the amine from the wash liquid and returns the amine to the CO₂ capture system, resulting in reduced fugitive emissions and improved process economics.

Common adsorbents were tested in a lab-scale adsorbent bed. Amine was adsorbed from flow of amine solutions in water and an organic solvent through the bed. Adsorbents were regenerated from countercurrent flow of steam through the bed. Amine content of the bed effluent was monitored periodically during adsorption and regeneration. Adsorbent performance was evaluated based on the amine adsorption capacity and cost. The material down-selection and results obtained from this lab-scale setup will be further tested at a larger-scale adsorbent bed in future development.