Orthogonal test design to optimize the operating parameters of CO2 desorption from a hybrid solvent MEA-Methanol in a packing stripper

•Rich solvent flow rate 30 L/h and rich solvent loading 0.5 molCO2/molamine was optimal for three kind of packing.•Regeneration temperature affected Δɑ and Qreg greatly: a higher regeneration temperature caused a bigger Δɑ and a higher Qreg.•Regeneration performance order: Sulzer BX500>Mellapale Y500> Pall rings 16 × 16.

Effects of three important operating conditions (rich solvent flow rate, rich solvent loading and regeneration temperature) on the regeneration performance of the desorption of CO2 from a hybrid solvent MEA-Methanol were studied in a pilot-plant stripper packed with three different packing consist of Sulzer BX500, mellapale 500Y and Pall rings 16 × 16 through the orthogonal tests. The results showed that regeneration temperature was the most important factor affected the CO2 cyclic capacity Δɑ and the solvent flow rate was the most important factor affected the regeneration heat duty Qreg. And the optimal operating conditions under three packing were as follows: rich solvent flow rate = 30 L/h, the rich solvent loading = 0.5 molCO2/molamine and the regeneration temperature affected Δɑ and Qreg greatly, a higher regeneration temperature caused a bigger Δɑ and a higher Qreg. In addition, the regeneration performance of Sulzer packing BX500 was the best and that of Pall rings packing 16 × 16 was the worst achieved in this study.

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