Chemical Engineering Journal, Vol.360, 654-664, 2019
Mathematical modelling and experimental investigation of CO2 absorber recovery using an electro-acidification method
Conventionally, CO2 is recovered using heat stripping method in the carbon capture and sequestration process (CCS), which requires a large amount of energy, and an amine treatment unit to remove heat stable salt (HSS). The energy consumed in CO2 recovery accounts for a large fraction of the total energy required for the CCS process. In this work, a novel electro-acidification method using bipolar membrane electrodialysis (BMED) was proposed as an alternative for simultaneous carbon absorber regeneration and HSS removal. The BMED stack was designed and integrated with a hollow fiber membrane contactor. The theoretical energy consumption for CO2 recovery were estimated through mathematical modelling, which was as low as 2 MJ/kg-CO2 (including HSS removal). The practical energy consumption is higher than the calculated due to trapped CO2. The findings of this study have important implications for the understanding of the integrated membrane process for carbon management with lower energy consumption.