A mass transfer study of CO2 absorption in aqueous solutions of isomeric forms of sodium alaninate for direct air capture application

Direct air capture (DAC) of CO2 is a critical emerging technology required to achieve ambitious net-zero emissions. Aqueous amino acid absorbents are ideal candidates for DAC and this work describes the investigation of the CO2 absorption performance of sodium salts of β- and α-alaninate under relevant conditions for DAC by utilising synthetic CO2 gas streams at concentrations levels found in the atmosphere (200–600 ppm). The effects of solution concentration, temperature, gas flowrate, liquid flowrate, and dissolved CO2 concentration (i.e., CO2 loading) on CO2 mass transfer coefficients were investigated. The overall mass transfer coefficient was found to be independent of the gas and liquid flowrates, with larger values determined for β-alaninate solutions (0.75–1.16 mmol/m2 s kPa) than that of α-alaninate (0.65–0.87 mmol/m2 s kPa), under similar experimental conditions. The results showed that the overall mass transfer coefficient increases with increasing temperature, conversely decreasing steadily with increasing CO2 loading. The maximum CO2 loading capacity of the 5.0 M solutions was ∼10 % higher for β-alanine (0.651 mol CO2/mol alaninate) than α-alanine (0.607 mol CO2/mol alaninate) at 25.0 °C. Precipitation was found to play an important role in the CO2 absorption processes here. Interestingly, beyond CO2 loadings >0.12 mol CO2/α-alaninate, the 5.0 M solution begins to develop precipitate(s) while precipitation in the β-alanine solution is only initiated at much higher CO2 loadings >0.52 mol CO2/β-alaninate. This study provides valuable insights into the suitability of β-alanine and α-alanine for CO2 capture directly from the ambient air.