Carbon dioxide absorption into monoethanolamine in a continuous film contactor

Numerical approach for analyzing absorption rate and understanding of the micro level interactions of various processes going inside the reactor was proposed by developing a mathematical model. The usefulness of this approach is demonstrated by presenting the analysis of experimental data for CO2 absorption into aqueous solutions of monoethanolamine. A continuous film contactor has been designed and developed for carrying out the absorption studies experimentally. The model equations were solved using computer code in conjunction with a non-linear regression technique to estimate a correlation, first of its kind, for physical gas-phase mass transfer coefficient. Proposed numerical scheme simulates the results based on momentum, mass and heat balance at the gas–liquid interface to explain the absorption behaviour. Results showed a good agreement between experimental and model predictions, thereby suggesting the utility of the model in predicting the chemical gas-absorption performance of gas liquid contactors.