Removal of carbon dioxide by a spray dryer

With the global warming due to greenhouse effects becoming serious, many efforts are carried out to decrease the emissions of CO2 from the combustion of carbonaceous materials. In Taiwan, there are 19 large-scale municipal solid waste incinerators running and their total emission of CO2 is about 16 950 kton y−1. Spray dryer is the most prevailing air pollution control devise for removing acid gas in waste incineration; however, the performance of spray dryer on the removal of CO2 is seldom studied. This study employs a laboratory-scale spray dryer to investigate the removal efficiency of CO2 under different operating conditions. The evaluated parameters include different absorbents mixed with Ca(OH)2, operating temperature, the concentration of absorbent, and the inlet concentration of CO2. Experimental results show that the best removal efficiency of CO2 by a spray dryer is 48% as the absorbent is 10%NaOH + 5%Ca(OH)2 and the operating temperature is 150 °C. Comparing this result with previous study shows that the performance of spray dryer is better than traditional NaOH wet scrubber. For NaOH + Ca(OH)2 spray dryer, the removal efficiency of CO2 is decreased with the inlet concentration of CO2 increased and the optimum operating temperature is 150 °C. Except NaOH + Ca(OH)2, absorbents DEA + Ca(OH)2, TEA + Ca(OH)2, and single Ca(OH)2 are not effective in removing CO2 by a spray dryer.