CO2 Capture by Absorption with Potassium Carbonate

The objective of this work is to improve the process for CO{sub 2} capture by alkanolamine absorption/stripping by developing an alternative solvent, aqueous K{sub 2}CO{sub 3} promoted by piperazine. The final campaign of the pilot plant was completed in February 2006 with 5m K{sup +}/2.5m PZ and 6.4m K{sup +}/1.6m PZ using Flexipac AQ Style 20. The new cross-exchanger reduced the approach temperature to less than 9 C. Stripper modeling has demonstrated that a configuration with a ''Flashing Feed'' requires 6% less work that a simple stripper. The oxidative degradation of piperazine proceeds more slowly than that of monoethanolamine and produces ethylenediamine and other products. Uninhibited 5 m KHCO{sub 3}/2.5 m PZ corrodes 5 to 6 times faster that 30% MEA with 0.2 mol CO{sub 2}/mol MEA