CO2 removal by MEA scrubbing: Process simulation and energy saving study

Industrially CO2 has to be removed from natural gas, refinery gas and exhaust gases of power plants, with the aim of reducing emissions and, thus, mitigating greenhouse effect. CO2 capture is commonly achieved by absorption with chemical solvents, such as aqueous solutions of amines. This work focuses on CO2 capture from exhaust gases of power plants by absorption with monoethanolamine (MEA), which is the most frequently used solvent for this purpose. The study is carried out by means of a commercial simulation software (ASPEN Plus®), using an electrolytic thermodynamic package with parameters calibrated on experimental solubility data for the CO2-MEA-H2O system. The purpose of our research is reducing the high energy requirement of the stripping unit by analyzing alternative configurations.