American Chemical Society, Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, 49(53), p. 19313-19321, 2014
DOI: 10.1021/ie503506b
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Monoethanolamine (MEA) is the benchmark solvent for the capture of carbon dioxide from both natural gas and 7 flue gas streams. Despite its effectiveness in absorbing CO2, this solvent can react with impurities in the gas stream to form heat 8 stable salts and other degradation products. These impurities can cause problems such as an increase in solvent viscosity and 9 corrosion of the operating units. Thus, a number of approaches have been considered to mitigate the occurrence of these 10 problems. In this paper, the use of electrodialysis as an online MEA reclamation process in a postcombustion CO2 capture facility 11 is investigated. The study shows that high heat stable salts removal can be achieved with a high MEA recovery. However, it is 12 necessary to limit the current density, particularly at lower salt concentrations, to reduce water splitting. The stability of the 13 commercial ion-exchange membranes in the highly alkaline solvent is also investigated. The results show that the membranes are 14 stable upon exposure to 30 wt % MEA for at least 4.5 months.