Process Characteristics of CO2 Absorption by Aqueous Monoethanolamine in a Microchannel Reactor

Process characteristics of CO2 absorption using aqueous monoethanolamine (MEA) in a microchannel reactor were investigated experimentally in this work. A T-type rectangular microchannel with a hydraulic diameter of 408 ìm was used. Operating parameters, i.e. temperature, pressure and molar ratio of MEA to CO2 were studied. Under 3 MPa pressure, the mole fraction of CO2 in gas phase could decrease from 32.3% to 300×10−6 at least when gas hourly space velocity ranged from 14400 to 68600 h−1 and molar ratio of MEA to CO2 was kept at 2.2. In particular, the effects of temperature on CO2 absorption flux, mass transfer driving force, gas-liquid contact time and enhancement factor were analyzed in detail and found that mass transfer enhancement by chemical reaction was a crucial factor for the process of CO2 absorption.