You are on page 1of 7

International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control 5 (2011) 11631169

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control


journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijggc

Comparison of several packings for CO2 chemical absorption in a packed column


Xinglei Zhao a , Kathryn H. Smith b , Michael A. Simioni b , Wendy Tao b ,
Sandra E. Kentish b , Weiyang Fei a , Geoffrey W. Stevens b,
a

The State Key Laboratory of Chemical Engineering, Department of Chemical Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
Cooperative Research Centre for Greenhouse Gas Technologies (CO2 CRC), Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, The University of Melbourne,
Victoria 3010, Australia
b

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 31 January 2011
Received in revised form 6 July 2011
Accepted 7 July 2011
Available online 10 August 2011
Keywords:
Super Mini Rings (SMRs)
CO2 capture
Flue gas
K2 CO3 solution
Packed column

a b s t r a c t
CO2 capture and storage has gained widespread attention as an option for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Chemical absorption and stripping of CO2 with hot potassium carbonate (K2 CO3 ) solutions has been
used in the past, however potassium carbonate solutions have a low CO2 absorption efciency. Various
techniques can be used to improve the absorption efciency of this system with one option being the
addition of promoters to the solvent and another option being an improvement in the mass transfer
efciency of the equipment. This study has focused on improving the efciency of the packed column by
replacing traditional packings with newer types of packing which have been shown to have enhanced
mass transfer performance. Three different packings (Super Mini Rings (SMRs), Pall Rings and Mellapak)
have been studied under atmospheric conditions in a laboratory scale column for CO2 absorption using
a 30 wt% K2 CO3 solution. It was found that SMR packing resulted in a mass transfer coefcient approximately 20% and 30% higher than that of Mellapak and Pall Rings, respectively. Therefore, the height of
packed column with SMR packing would be substantially lower than with Pall Rings or Mellapak. Meanwhile, the pressure drop using SMR was comparable to other packings while the gas ooding velocity was
higher when the liquid load was above 25 kg m2 s1 . Correlations for predicting ooding gas velocities
and pressure drop were tted to the experimental data, allowing the relevant parameters to be estimated
for use in later design.
2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

1. Introduction
In the battle against global warming, CO2 capture and storage
has gained widespread attention as an option for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Chemical absorption and stripping of CO2 with
aqueous solvents including alkanolamines and hot potassium carbonate (K2 CO3 ) solutions are well-known and effective processes
for removing CO2 from power plant ue gases (Jassim and Rochelle,
2006). Compared with alkanolamines, potassium carbonate is less
toxic, less prone to oxidative solvent degradation and has a low heat
of regeneration (Cullinane and Rochelle, 2004; Uyanga and Idem,
2007). The reaction of K2 CO3 with CO2 has been studied extensively
and occurs via the following overall chemical reaction (Savage et al.,
1980):
CO2 + K2 CO3 + H2 O 2KHCO3

(1)

The main disadvantage with using potassium carbonate is that it


has a low CO2 absorption efciency. Various techniques can be

Corresponding author. Tel.: +61 3 8344 6621; fax: +61 3 8344 8824.
E-mail address: gstevens@unimelb.edu.au (G.W. Stevens).
1750-5836/$ see front matter 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd.
doi:10.1016/j.ijggc.2011.07.006

used to improve the absorption efciency of this process including


adding promoters to the K2 CO3 solvent system and/or enhancing
the efciency of the packed column. A variety of promoters including piperazine (PZ) (Cullinane and Rochelle, 2004), diethanolamine
(Rahimpour and Kashkooli, 2004) and arsenic trioxide (Epp et al.,
2007) have been studied with K2 CO3 solvent. However equipment
efciency has not received as much attention for this application.
Packed columns are the most commonly used equipment for capture of CO2 from power plant ue gases using solvent absorption.
One way of improving equipment efciency with a packed column
is to replace traditional packings with newer types of packings
(random or structured) which have been specially designed to
improve performance. Newer structured packings can be advantageous due to lower pressure drops and improved efciencies
however they are much more expensive than random packings.
With both operating and capital costs being important considerations when implementing carbon capture and storage on a large
scale it is imperative to improve the efciency of the CO2 absorption process while keeping the cost of the equipment to a minimum.
Therefore a randomly packed column with novel internals has the
potential to achieve improved performance with lower operating
costs while minimizing capital costs.

1164

X. Zhao et al. / International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control 5 (2011) 11631169

Nomenclature
a
specic surface area of the packing (m2 m3 )
C
constant
d
diameter (m)
A, B
constants from Eq. (2)
C1 , CFl , CP,0 Billet and Schultes coefcients
dp
diameter (or nominal size) of packing (m)
gas or vapour capacity factor (kg1/2 m1/2 s1 )
Fv
g
gravitational acceleration (m s2 )
G
mass owrate of liquid
H
Henrys Law constant (kmol m2 m3 N)
hL
column holdup
K
wall factor
overall gas phase mass transfer coefcient
Ky
(kmol m3 h1 )
k
parameter in the Takehashi pressure drop correlation
ky
gas lm mass transfer coefcient (kmol m3 h1 )
liquid lm mass transfer coefcient (kmol m3 h1 )
kl
L
mass ow of liquid (kg m2 s1 )
LW
liquid load (m3 m2 h1 )
Mt
molecular weight of water (kg kmol1 )
P
pressure (kPa)
Re
Reynolds number (Re = Du/)
S
column cross sectional area (m2 )
Sc
Schmidt number (Sc = /D)
T
temperature (K)
u
supercial velocity (m s1 )
V
mass ow of gas (kg m2 h1 )
x
equilibrium CO2 concentration in solution
(kmol m3 )
X
mass fraction of K2 CO3 in solution
Y
CO2 mol% in gas
y*
CO2 mol% in gas at equilibrium
Z
column height (m)
Greek letters

enhancement factor

packing void fraction (m3 m3 )


D
diffusion coefcient (m2 s1 )

viscosity (Pa s)

stripping factor

density (kg m3 )

surface tension (kg s2 )
resistance coefcient
Subscripts
v
gas phase
Fl
ooding point
L
liquid
P
particles
S
loading point
V
gas or vapour

Randomly packed columns have been widely used in industry,


including applications for gas absorption with high liquid loads, solvent extraction and high pressure distillation (Kister et al., 1994).
Signicant efforts have been dedicated to developing new, highefciency random packings for some time (Brierley, 1994; Cao,
2000; Fei, 1996; Li and Liu, 2000). It has been shown that the Super
Mini Ring (SMR), a novel random packing, has enhanced performance due to the elaborate design of the twisting-inwards arc units
(Fei, 1989) (refer to Fig. 1). The SMR packing has been widely used
in carbon dioxide absorption from synthetic ammonia plants and in
LPG purication with signicant economic benets (Fei and Wen,
1995; Ma and Fei, 2000).
The objectives of the present study were to compare the efciency of CO2 absorption into potassium carbonate solutions using
a laboratory sized column lled with Super Mini Rings (SMRs, a
novel random packing), Pall Rings (a commonly used random packing) and Mellapak (a structured packing). Hydrodynamic and mass
transfer correlations for predicting the performance of these different packings have also been investigated.
2. Materials and methods
Experiments were performed in a glass column of 0.074 m
internal diameter with CO2 absorption into potassium carbonate
solution at atmospheric pressure. The height of the packed bed
was 0.9 m. A schematic diagram showing the experimental setup
is shown in Fig. 2. A mixture of CO2 (14 or 85 mol%) and N2 was
used for the gas phase and 30 wt% K2 CO3 solution was used as
the liquid solvent. Both phases owed through the column counter
currently via distributors, and ow rates were measured with calibrated rotameters. The range of gas phase velocities studied was
from 0.19 to 0.56 m s1 and the range of liquid phase velocities studied was from 4.8 to 33 kg m2 s1 . The gas phase was continuous
and the liquid phase dispersed. Oil baths were used to heat each
phase to the desired operating temperature. The gas exiting the
top of the column passed through a condenser coil before venting
to the extraction system at atmospheric pressure. Loaded solvent
exiting the column was returned to another tank and later stripped
of CO2 using another packed column. The inlet and outlet pressures
and temperatures of the packed bed were measured at steady state
conditions using pressure transmitters and thermocouples connected to LabView software. When liquid holdup was studied, gas
and liquid ow rates were stopped simultaneously by closing the
inlet and outlet valves. Liquid was then collected into a measuring
cylinder until the liquid interface returned to its original position.
Each measurement was repeated three times to ensure accuracy of
experimental data and the data obtained agreed to within 10%.
Mass transfer performance was studied by taking liquid samples
at steady state conditions and determining the concentration of
CO3 2 and HCO3 in the solution via acidbase titration. The titration was performed using a MetrohmTitrando 809 (Switzerland)
and the data was collected via a computer using the Metrohm tiamo
software package. Each sample was analysed three times and the
data obtained agreed to within 10%.
Generally hydrodynamic and mass transfer performance studies were completed with a CO2 gas concentration of 14 mol% which
is the concentration commonly found in power plant ue gases.
However as unpromoted K2 CO3 solution has a low CO2 absorption

Table 1
Geometric characteristics of SMR, Pall Ring and Mellapak packings.
Type of packing

Specic surface area, a (m2 m3 )

Voidage, (m3 m3 )

Diameter (or equivalent diameter), dp (m)

13 mm SMR
13 mm Pall Ring
Mellapak 700Y

419
360
700

0.980
0.928
0.936

0.0130
0.0130
0.0036

X. Zhao et al. / International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control 5 (2011) 11631169

1165

Fig. 1. Different packings used in this study: (a) 13 mm SMR; (b) 13 mm Pall Ring; and (c) Mellapak 700Y.

viscosity was calculated using the correlation presented by Correia


et al. (1980).
3. Results and discussion
It is desirable to have low pressure drop and high mass transfer
rates when operating a packed column. When designing a column
for CO2 capture it is also particularly important to ensure that the
capital and operating costs of the equipment is kept to a minimum,
as the cost of capture is one of the barriers to implementing carbon
capture and storage technologies on a large scale. This study has
therefore looked at optimizing the hydrodynamic and mass transfer
performance of three different types of packings in a laboratory
scale column.
3.1. Flooding velocity

Fig. 2. Experimental set-up and ow scheme (1, solvent pump; 2, oil bath; 3, rotameter; 4, absorber; 5, liquid sample point; 6, cooling water; 7, condenser coil; 8, rich
solvent tank; 9, lean solvent tank).

rate, mass transfer coefcients were determined using a higher concentration of 85 mol% CO2 and 15 mol% N2 in order to enhance the
absorption performance.
The geometric characteristics of 13 mm SMR, 13 mm Pall
Ring and Mellapak 700Y are listed in Table 1. The equivalent
diameter of Mellapak 700Y was estimated using the calculation
procedures presented by Haan et al. (McCabe, 1967). The height of
each Mellapak 700Y packing element was 10 cm and 9 elements
were used in the packed section of the column.
The physical properties of the experimental system are shown
in Table 2. Gas viscosity was calculated using the method presented
in Perrys Chemical Engineers Handbook (Perry, 1984) and liquid

In a packed column, the gas and liquid rates are limited by the
tendency of the column to ood. As either liquid or gas velocity is
increased, the liquid holdup in the packing increases, the free area
for gas ow decreases, and the pressure drop through the column
increases. A point is nally reached when the gas bubbles violently
through the liquid, the pressure drop rises extremely sharply with
the slightest increase in gas velocity, and liquid is raised to the top of
the column via the upowing gas. This point is called the ooding
point and is determined by both gas and liquid rates. Although the
best operating conditions are determined by an economic balance, a
knowledge of ooding velocities is extremely useful in rstly determining the limiting gas and liquid rates above which operation is
not possible, and secondly in estimating the optimum liquid and gas
rates where there are not enough data to make an exact economic
balance of operating and xed cost (Sherwood et al., 1938).
As shown in Fig. 3, the gas ooding velocity of 13 mm SMR is
about 10% higher than that of the other packings at higher liquid
loads (>25 kg m2 s1 ). Higher liquid loads are preferred for this
application in order to improve CO2 absorption, as K2 CO3 solutions
have relatively low absorption efciency for CO2 capture. Under
these conditions, a higher gas velocity can also be utilized with
13 mm SMR. These characteristics suggest that SMR packing would
be benecial for the high throughputs required for CO2 capture
from coal red power stations.
Bain and Hougens equation (Bain and Hougen, 1944) can be
used to predict the ooding gas velocity of the different packings
discussed in this study (refer to Table 4). In the present case, the

Table 2
Physical properties of the gas and liquid phases.
System type

Temperature, T (K)

Density,  (kg m3 )

Viscosity,  105 (kg m1 s1 )

Liquid (30 wt% K2 CO3 )


CO2 (14 mol%) + N2 (86 mol%)
CO2 (85 mol%) + N2 (14 mol%)

343
343
343

1300
1.074
1.477

987.27
1.905
1.678

1166

X. Zhao et al. / International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control 5 (2011) 11631169


Table 4
Flooding velocity models for packed columns used in this study.

Gas Phase Flooding Velocity, uv,Fl (m/s)

0.7
0.6

Author

Flooding velocity model

0.5

uv.Fl =
Billet and Schultes
(1999)

0.4

Fl

2g(hL,Fl )3 hL,Fl L
V
Fl a

   0.2 2nFl
L
v
L

C2
Fl

L

L

0.4,

 v
L

0.3

when

0.2

CFl = 0.6244CFl

 L 0.1028
V

to conditions when

 u2

0.0
0

V

and nFl = 0.708

Refer to Billet and Schultes


 (1999) for equations relevant

SMR 13mm
Mellapak 700Y
Pall 13 mm

0.1

1/2

10

15

20

25

30

35

Bain and Hougen


(1944)

log

v,Fl a V
g 3 L

L
V

0.16

v
L

0.4.

 L 1/4  v 1/8

= b 1.75

L

Liquid Phase Flowrate, L (kg.m-2.s-1)


Fig. 3. Gas ooding velocities for 13 mm SMR, 13 mm Pall Ring and Mellapak
700Y.

experimental data can be reasonably tted to this expression. However, the value of the constant b, is signicantly different from the
range suggested by these authors (0.0220.26) with an average
value across the three packings of 0.96 0.04. This constant is different to that proposed by Bain and Hougen most likely due to the
fact that this correlation was developed using only three types of
random packing materials and for a limited range of operating conditions. Alternatively, the expressions of Billet and Schultes (1999)
can be used to determine the ooding velocity, in combination with
the ooding holdup (see Tables 3 and 4). Again, the t to this expression is reasonable, but the values of the adjustable ooding constant
(CFl ) differ from that suggested by these authors (Table 5).
3.2. Liquid holdup
In a packed column, the liquid holdup refers to the liquid
retained in the packed bed including liquid lms or droplets on the
surface of the packing or the liquid trapped in the interstitial space
between the packing. There is a need to study the liquid holdup
because it has a direct inuence on liquid-phase mass transfer,
loading behaviour, gas-phase pressure gradients and mass transfer
(Skrbic and Cvejanov, 1994). It can be seen from Fig. 4 that 13 mm
Table 3
Pressure drop models for packed columns used in this study.
Author

Pressure drop model

Table 5
Values of the Billet and Schultes (1999) ooding constant (CFl ) in comparison to the
literature values.

SMR 13 mm
Pall Ring 13 mm
Mellapak 700Y
a

This study

Billet and Schultes (1999)

1.48
1.41
1.89

2.92a

Extrapolated from data for 25, 35 and 50 mm Pall Rings.

SMR and Mellapak 700Y generally have a higher liquid holdup than
the 13 mm Pall Ring.
3.3. Pressure drop
Pressure drop determines the operating reliability and cost of
the packed column. A comparison of the experimental pressure
drop in 13 mm SMR, 13 mm Pall Ring and Mellapak 700Y has
been shown in Fig. 5. From these results it can be seen that all three
packings have comparable pressure drops under the conditions
studied.
Several models for predicting the pressure drop in a packed column have been presented in the literature and the details of two
such correlations are shown in Table 3. Nonlinear regression of
the experimental data was used to evaluate the model parameters for the different packings (Table 6 and Fig. 6). The constant
developed for Pall Ring packing using the Billet and Schultes correlation is completely consistent with the values suggested in this
paper, and the parameters for the other two packings are well
within the range of values presented for all packings in this paper
(0.191.3). The Takehashi correlation was less successful but the

For irrigated packing:

Billet and Schultes


(1999)

Fv2 1
a
(hl )3 2 K

where:
L =

64
Rev

CP.0

1.8
Re0.08
v



hl

1.5  h 0.3
L

hL,s

exp(C1

0.16

FrL )

u2 a

FrL =

1
= 1 + 23 1

Fv = uv v
1
K

hL =

0.18

13,300
3/2

C1 =

dp =

0.20

Holdup hL

P
Z

6(1)
a
12 L
g L

dp
ds

uL a2

P
Z

h=

= 2f

0.10

0.06

1/3

V
dp

SMR
MellaPak
Pall

0.04

where uv uv,s

0.02

0.742
; ReG 200, f = 6.85 ReG 0.216
ReG < 200,
 f = 114
 ReG
u2

0.12

0.08

Refer to Billet and Schultes (1999) for equations relevant


to conditions when uv uv,s
Takahashi et al.
(1979)

0.14

 u 2
3

+ kh

1.53 104 + 2.90 105 Re0.66


L

  0.75 
L

W

dp1.20

0.00
0.0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

Gas Load Factor, Fv (kg1/2m-1/2s-1)

Fig. 4. Comparison of liquid holdup for CO2 (14 mol%) absorption into K2 CO3 solution at 70 C using 3 packings: 13 mm SMR, 13 mm Pall Ring and Mellapak 700Y
at a liquid phase owrate of 14 kg m2 s1 .

X. Zhao et al. / International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control 5 (2011) 11631169

1167

3.4. Mass transfer performance

200
180

Pressure Drop (Pa)

160
140
120
100

SMR
Mellapak
Pall

80
60
40
20
0
0.0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

Gas Load Factor, Fv (kg1/2m-1/2s-1)

Fig. 5. Comparison of pressure drop for CO2 (14 mol%) absorption into K2 CO3 solution at 70 C using 3 packings: 13 mm SMR, 13 mm Pall Ring and Mellapak 700Y
at a liquid phase owrate of 14 kg m2 s1 .

Table 6
Values of the Billet and Schultes (1999) pressure drop constant (CP,0 ) and the
Takahashi et al. (1979) pressure drop parameter (k) in comparison to the literature
values.

SMR 13 mm
Pall Ring 13 mm
Mellapak 700Y
a

Billet and Schultes CP,0


parameter

Takehashi k parameter

This study

This study

0.84
1.00
0.56

Billet and
Schultes (1999)
0.96a

8.33 105
3.65 105

Takahashi et al.
(1979)

1
1
H
=
+
Ky a
ky a
kl a

5.22 104

Extrapolated from data for 25, 35 and 500 mm Pall Rings.

NCO2 = Ky (yCO2 yCO


)

(3)

Considering an element of column with height Z, the mass balance


can be given as follows:
G
L
dYCO2 = dxCO2
S
S

(4)

where S represents the column cross-sectional area.


Combining Eq. (3) with Eq. (4) gives:

Ky a(yCO2 yCO
)=
2

L dxCO2
G dYCO2
=
S dZ
S dZ

(5)

which rearranges to the following:


Ky a =

dYCO2
dxCO2
L
G
1
1
=

S (yCO2 yCO
S (yCO2 yCO
) dZ
) dZ
2

(6)

Eq. (6) is universally used in the literature to determine the overall mass transfer coefcient (Aroonwilas and Tontiwachwuthikul,
1997a,b, 1998; Aroonwilas and Veawab, 2004; Aroonwilas et al.,

200

(2)

where H and stand for the Henry constant and the enhancement
factor for the chemical reaction, respectively.
Ideally the overall mass transfer coefcient Ky a would be
directly determined from Eq. (2). However, this approach is not
extensively used because experimental determinations of the individual mass transfer coefcients ky and kl involve the use of
extremely difcult techniques. A more practical approach for calculating the overall mass transfer coefcient is to perform absorption
experiments where the concentration prole of absorbed component in the gas phase is measured along the tested column length
(Aroonwilas and Veawab, 2004). In this case the ux of CO2 is calculated and characterized by the overall gas-phase mass transfer
coefcient (Ky ):

NA adZ =

values determined for SMR and Pall Ring packings, determined by


regression of the experimental data are well within the range of
values quoted by this paper which range from 1.65 104 for Berl
Saddles to 9.30 105 for Raschig rings. The Takehashi correlation
overpredicted the dry pressure drop for Mellapak 700Y so no value
of k provided a realistic t to the data for this packing, suggesting that the Takehashi correlation is only appropriate for random
rather than structured packing.

To examine the mass transfer performance of the different packings, the overall mass transfer coefcient per unit volume (Ky a) was
determined. Higher Ky a values indicate better mass transfer performance. The overall mass transfer coefcient can be determined
from the following Eq. (2) (Lin et al., 2003):

250

160
140
120
100

Pall
Mellapak
SMR

80
60
40

Experimental Pressure Drop (Pa)

Experimental Pressure Drop (Pa)

180
200

150

Pall
SMR

100

50

20
0

0
0

50

100

150

Predicted Pressure Drop (Pa)

200

50

100

150

200

250

Predicted Pressure Drop (Pa)

Fig. 6. Comparison of pressure drop (wet) as calculated from (a) the Billet and Schultes (1999) correlation and (b) the Takahashi et al. (1979) correlation versus the experimental
data for the three packings. No appropriate t could be provided for the Takehashi correlation and Mellapak700Y.

1168

X. Zhao et al. / International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control 5 (2011) 11631169

packing can be attributed to the special geometric characteristics of


the SMR packings. With twisting-inwards arc units, the dispersion,
aggregation and re-dispersion of liquid drops are greatly promoted.
This packing, by means of the small height-diameter ratio, enhances
the mass transfer rate between the contacting phases, simultaneously increasing specic surface area and accelerating the surface
renewal. This in turn results in a larger area for mass transfer and
hence improved mass transfer performance and column efciency.

4.5
4.0

kya, kmol/m3h

3.5
3.0
2.5
2.0
1.5

4. Conclusions

1.0

SMR
MellaPak
Pall

where xCO2 represents the equivalent CO2 concentration in 30 wt%


K2 CO3 solution at equilibrium conditions.
The mass balance between the gas and solvent in the column is
given as follows:

13 mm SMR packing has been shown to have a 20% and 30%


higher mass transfer coefcient when compared to Mellapak 700Y
and 13 mm Pall Ring, respectively. Thus the height of a packed
column with SMR would be substantially lower than that with Pall
Rings or Mellapak. Meanwhile, compared to other packings the
ooding gas velocity for SMR packing increased when the liquid
loads were above 25 kg m2 s1 . Thus 13 mm SMR has a higher
gas ux at higher liquid loads when compared to 13 mm Pall
Ring and Mellapak 700Y, which is advantageous for absorption of
CO2 under high throughput conditions seen at power plants. Pressure drops were comparable for all three packings. Correlations for
predicting the gas ooding velocity, pressure drop and mass transfer coefcient have been recommended for the different packings
used in this study and will be important for the design of large scale
packed columns for CO2 capture.
Overall, laboratory scale results from this study have shown
promising potential for CO2 absorption using SMR randomly
packed columns. Due to the special geometric characteristics of the
SMR packing which promote even wetting on the packing surface
as well as recurrent turbulence, relatively low pressure drop but
sustained mass transfer rates are observed. SMR packing also has
a signicant cost advantage over the structured packing Mellapak
which is known to be signicantly more expensive per unit volume
than random packing (Seader and Henley, 2006).

G(YCO2 ,in YCO2 ,out ) = L(xCO2 ,out xCO2 ,in )

Acknowledgments

0.5
0.0
0

10

15

20

25

Liquid Phase Flowrate, L (kg.m-2.s-1)


Fig. 7. Mass transfer coefcient for 13 mm SMR, 13 mm Pall Ring and Mellapak
700Y at a gas velocity of 0.34 m s1 .

1999). In an ideal case, the CO2 concentration in the gas phase along
the column is measured and interpreted in terms of mole ratio and
subsequently plotted as a function of column height. Due to equipment limitations it was not possible to obtain this prole in the
current study, so Eq. (6) was further simplied. This was done by
substituting yCO2 and y in Eq. (6) by the equations for the operating and equilibrium curves. The resulting equation was solved
numerically between the liquid inlet and outlet concentrations.
The data of Tosh et al. (1959) was used to determine the equilibrium equation for CO2 absorption at 70 C using 30 wt% K2 CO3 :
y = 0.00568 exCO2 /0.00767

YCO2 ,out = YCO2 ,in

(7)

(xCO2 ,out xCO2 ,in )L


G

(8)
(9)

According to Eq. (9), the equation of the operating curve can be


presented as:
yCO2 =

xCO2 +

(10)

xCO2 +

References

where
=

L
;
G

Yin + L xin
;
G

=+1

(11)

Replacing yCO2 and y in Eq. (6) by Eqs. (7) and (10) gives:
Ky a =

The authors acknowledge the Cooperative Research Centre for


Greenhouse Gas Technologies (CO2 CRC) and the Particulate Fluid
Processing ARC Special Research Centre (PFPC) for nancial support
and vacation student Moshe Ross for assistance in completing the
experimental work for this study.

dYCO2
G
1

S (yCO2 yCO
) dZ

L
=
SZ

1
dxCO2
(xCO2 )/(xCO2 )0.00433 exCO2 /0.00795
(26)

Eq. (12) was numerically solved using function Quad (adaptive


Simpson quadrature) in MATLAB.
A comparison of the resulting overall mass transfer coefcients,
Ky a, for 13 mm SMR, 13 mm Pall Ring and Mellapak 700Y are
shown in Fig. 7. Ky a increases with increasing liquid loads for all
packings. The Ky a of 13 mm SMR is 30% and 20% higher than that
with 13 mm Pall Ring and Mellapak 700Y, respectively, at most
liquid loadings. This means that the height of a packed column with
SMR would be substantially lower than that with Pall Ring and Mellapak. The improved mass transfer performance seen with the SMR

Aroonwilas, A., Tontiwachwuthikul, P., 1997a. High-efciency structured packing


for CO2 separation using 2-amino-2-methyl-1-propanol (AMP). Separation and
Purication Technology 12, 6779.
Aroonwilas, A., Tontiwachwuthikul, P., 1997b. Mass transfer studies of high performance structured packing for CO2 separation processes. Energy Conversion and
Management 38, S75S80.
Aroonwilas, A., Tontiwachwuthikul, P., 1998. Mass transfer coefcients and correlation for CO2 absorption into 2-amino-2-methyl-1-propanol (AMP) using
structured packing. Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research 37, 569575.
Aroonwilas, A., Veawab, A., 2004. Characterization and comparison of the CO2
absorption performance into single and blended alkanolamines in a packed
column. Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research 43, 22282237.
Aroonwilas, A., Veawab, A., Tontiwachwuthikul, P., 1999. Behavior of the masstransfer coefcient of structured packings in CO2 absorbers with chemical
reactions. Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research 38, 20442050.
Bain Jr., W.A., Hougen, O.A., 1944. Flooding velocities in packed columns. Transactions of the American Institute of Chemical Engneers 40, 21.
Billet, R., Schultes, M., 1999. Prediction of mass transfer columns with dumped and
arranged packings. Updated summary of the calculation method of Billet and
Schultes. Chemical Engineering Research and Design 77, 498504.
Brierley, R.J.P., 1994. High-pressure distillation is different. Chemical Engineering
Progress 90, 6877.
Cao, W., 2000. Recent advances on packed columns. Petro-Chemical Equipment 29,
34.
Correia, R.J., Kestin, J., Khalifa, H.E., 1980. Viscosity and density of aqueous sodium
carbonate and potassium carbonate solutions in the temperature range 2090 C

X. Zhao et al. / International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control 5 (2011) 11631169


and the pressure range 030 MPa. Journal of Chemical and Engineering Data 25,
201206.
Cullinane, J.T., Rochelle, G.T., 2004. Carbon dioxide absorption with aqueous potassium carbonate promoted by piperazine. Chemical Engineering Science 59,
36193630.
Epp, B., Fahlenkamp, H., Pieper, B., Stankewitz, C., Erich, E., Vogt, M., 2007. Tailend CO2 capture as convincing opportunity for retrotting of coal-red power
stations and related R&D objectives. VGB PowerTech 87, 106116.
Fei, W., 1996. Recent advances in chemical engineering separation columns.
Huagong Jinzhan 6, 4044.
Fei, W., Wen, X., 1995. Research and application of QH-1 mini rings. Huaxue
Gongcheng (Xian, Peoples Repub. China) 23, 2427.
Fei, W.Y., 1989. Super mini ring, Chinese Patent, CN89109152.1 ed., China.
Jassim, M.S., Rochelle, G.T., 2006. Innovative absorber/stripper congurations for
CO2 capture by aqueous monoethanolamine. Industrial & Engineering Chemistry
Research 45, 24652472.
Kister, H.Z., Larson, K.F., Yanagi, T., 1994. How do trays and packings stack up?
Chemical Engineering Progress 90, 2332.
Li, T.W., Liu, H.S., 2000. Development trend of bulk packing. Process Equipment &
Piping 37, 17.
Lin, C.-C., Liu, W.-T., Tan, C.-S., 2003. Removal of carbon dioxide by absorption
in a rotating packed bed. Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research 42,
23812386.
Ma, Z.Y., Fei, W.Y., 2000. Application of QH mini ring for revamping of ammonia
systems. Chemical Fertilizer Design 38, 43.

1169

McCabe, W.L., 1967. Unit Operation of Chemical Engineering. McGraw-Hill, New


York.
Perry, R.H., 1984. Perrys Chemical Engineers Handbook. McGraw-Hill,
New York.
Rahimpour, M.R., Kashkooli, A.Z., 2004. Enhanced carbon dioxide removal by promoted hot potassium carbonate in a split-ow absorber. Chemical Engineering
and Processing 43, 857865.
Savage, D.W., Astarita, G., Joshi, S., 1980. Chemical absorption and desorption of
carbon dioxide from hot carbonate solutions. Chemical Engineering Science 35,
15131522.
Seader, J.D., Henley, E.J., 2006. Separation Process Principles. John Wiley & Sons,
NJ.
Sherwood, T.K., Shipley, G.H., Holloway, F.A.L., 1938. Flooding velocities in packed
columns. Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry (Washington, DC) 30,
765769.
Skrbic, B., Cvejanov, J., 1994. Liquid holdup determination in packed columns for
sulfur dioxide absorption. Gas Separation & Purication 8, 1316.
Takahashi, T., Akagi, Y., Ueyama, K., 1979. A new correlation for pressure drop of
packed column. Journal of Chemical Engineering of Japan 12, 341346.
Tosh, J.S., Field, J.H., Benson, H.E., Haynes, W.P., 1959. Equilibrium Study of the System Potassium Carbonate, Potassium Bicarbonate, Carbon Dioxide, and Water.
Bureau of Mines Report of Investigations No. 5484, 23 pp.
Uyanga, I.J., Idem, R.O., 2007. Studies of SO2 - and O2 -induced degradation of aqueous MEA during CO2 capture from power plant ue gas streams. Industrial &
Engineering Chemistry Research 46, 25582566.

You might also like