Impact of the Aerosol Particle Included in Actual Flue Gas on Amine Mist Formation/Growth in the Post-Combustion Capture Pilot Plant

Abstract

In this study, Toshiba conducted evaluation of amine emissions from 10ton-CO 2 /day scale pilot plant within 30wt% MEA solution as well as Toshiba solvent (TS-1), as part of the project by the Ministry of the Environment (Japan). The results show that TS-1 developed by Toshiba has significant advantages over a 30wt% MEA solution in terms of mitigating amine emissions from the top of the absorber. On the other hand, it was found that mist-driven amine emissions are less likely to be reduced by water wash and acid wash, compared to vapour pressure-driven amine emissions. We also verified the role of aerosol contained in the raw flue gas on amine mist formation/growth in the CO 2 absorber. As a result, it is interesting to note that remarkable increase in number concentration of the amine mist from the top of the 1 st tower (water wash) was observed, depending on the increase in number concentration of the aerosol in the flue gas upstream of the absorber. Additionally, the aerosol is nano-order, which is much smaller than that of amine mist (micro-order), and the fluctuation tendencies of the peak diameter of both the aerosol and amine mist were very similar. Therefore, this might indicate that the aerosol acts as a source of amine mist nuclei and enhances amine mist growth in the CO 2 absorber.