Kinetic performance of CO2 absorption into a potassium carbonate solution promoted with the enzyme carbonic anhydrase: Comparison with a monoethanolamine solution

• The CA enzyme activity did not change noticeably with CO2 loading in a PC solution.
• Absorption rate into CO2-rich PC with 3 g/L of CA were twice that into a rich 5 M MEA.
• Liquid-phase mass transfer resistance dominated in both the PC and MEA systems.
• Packing volume of IVCAP absorber with 10 g/L of CA was comparable with that of MEA.

Development of enzyme-mediated solvents are regarded as a potential option to overcome the energy use disadvantages associated with the benchmark monoethanolamine (MEA) solvent for post-combustion CO2 capture. In this work, the kinetics of CO2 absorption into a 20 wt% potassium carbonate (PC) solution promoted with the enzyme carbonic anhydrase (CA) was investigated using a stirred tank reactor. Experimental results showed no noticeable change in the intrinsic activity of the CA enzyme with increasing CO2 loading in PC solution. A rate-based mass transfer analysis was conducted using the enzymatic kinetics measured, and results revealed that in a packed-bed column, the CO2 absorption rates into a lean and rich PC solution with 3 g L−1 CA were 50% lower and 2.2 times higher, respectively, than those into their 5 M MEA counterparts. The liquid-phase mass transfer resistance was dominant for both PC- and MEA-based systems. Modeling results revealed the effective packing volume of the absorber with PC in the presence of 10 g L−1 CA was only slightly larger than that with MEA for post-combustion CO2 capture.