Catalytic solvent regeneration of a CO 2 ‐loaded MEA solution using an acidic catalyst from industrial rough metatitanic acid

Ethanolamine (MEA) solution is the most commonly used commercial chemical absorbent in conventional CO 2 postcombustion processes; however the high heat duty and reaction temperature (e.g. 125°C) for solvent regeneration leads to high energy requirements (approximately 70–80% of the total running cost). This paper reports a catalytic solvent regeneration of a CO 2 ‐loaded MEA solution using industrial calcined rough metatitanic acid (TiO(OH) 2 ) as the catalyst to improve the CO 2 desorption rate and reduce the regeneration temperature to 95°C. The catalytic reaction parameters were systematically investigated with an improvement in the CO 2 desorption rate of 28.9% in comparison with the non‐catalytic process. The results of characterization, such as the thermogravimetry analysis, X‐ray diffraction, N 2 adsorption‐desorption, pyridine‐infrared spectroscopy (Py‐IR), showed that the Lewis acid of the industrial metatitanic acid played a major role in the decomposition of carbamate and in enhancing the regeneration rate of MEA solvent in a CO 2 ‐rich MEA solution. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.