Operation of a pilot-scale CO₂ capture process with a new energy-efficient polyamine solvent

A new blending recipe of a polyamine-based solvent for capturing post-combustion CO₂ was proposed, and its performance and characteristics were investigated using a pilot-scale carbon capture process (PCCP). The proposed solvent is a blend of three types of amines and was designed to separate the solvent roles into those of a main amine, auxiliary amine, and reaction-rate-enhancing amine. Polyamine 3,3^′-iminobis (N, N-dimethylpropylamine) was selected as the main amine given its ability to capture large amounts of CO₂. 2-Amino-2-methyl-1-propanol was used as the auxiliary amine, with piperazine added as the reaction-rate-enhancing amine. This solvent was tested in a PCCP that can handle 150 Nm³ /h of flue gas. The proposed solvent was found to operate stably while consuming substantially lower reboiler duty than the monoethanolamine (MEA) 30 mass% solvent.