Heat of absorption of CO2 in aqueous ammonia and ammonium carbonate/carbamate solutions

A reaction calorimeter was used to determine the enthalpies of absorption of CO2 in aqueous ammonia and in aqueous solutions of ammonium carbonate at temperatures of 35–80 °C. The heat of absorption of CO2 with 2.5 wt% aqueous ammonia solution was found to be about 70 kJ/mol CO2, which is lower than that with MEA (around 85 kJ/mol) at 35 and 40 °C. The value decreases with increased loading, but not to as low a value as expected by the carbonate–bicarbonate reaction (26.88 kJ/mol). The enthalpy of absorption of CO2 in aqueous ammonia at 60 and 80 °C decreases with loadings at first, then increases between 0.2 mol CO2/mol NH3 and 0.6 mol CO2/mol NH3, and then decreases again. The behavior of the heat of absorption of CO2 in 10 wt% ammonium carbonate solution was found to be the same as that of aqueous ammonia at loadings above 0.6 mol CO2/mol NH3. The heat of absorption increases with increasing temperature. The heats of absorption are directly related to the extent of the various reactions with CO2 and can be assessed from the species variation in the liquid phase.