CO₂ Absorption Using potassium carbonate as solvent

One of the main sources of global warming is greenhouse gasses, most importantly carbon dioxide. Reducing CO₂ emissions, as well as its utilization or storage, is a global challenge to tackle climate change. In this work, the operating conditions of the pilot CO₂ capture unit are studied using the ASPEN PLUS® software. This study describes the methodology of the simulations and main results. The unit consists of one scrubber and one stripper. For carbon dioxide absorption from gas streams, aqueous solvents K₂CO₃ is used. The effect on absorption of CO₂ and regeneration of carbon dioxide and potassium carbonate were studied by varying parameters of pressure, temperature and concentration of solvent. For each parameter, three values were evaluated with the following ranges: pressure 0.3-1bar; temperature 80-100 ^oC; concentration of potassium carbonate 15-25wt%. The optimum operating conditions of the pilot unit are pressure 0.3bar; stripper temperature 100^oC and solvent concentration 15wt%. Under these conditions, 99.91% CO₂ capture and 85.46% CO₂ regeneration were achieved. The present research aims to find the optimal operating parameters of the pilot plant, to validate the model with the experimental data. In this way, the model parameterization can be used for the design of large-scale CO₂ capture units.