Postcombustion CO2 capture using diethylenetriamine (DETA) solvent in a pilot‐plant test bed compared to monoethanolamine (MEA) solvent

The performance of CO2 absorption into diethylenetriamine (DETA) solvent and CO2 desorption from rich DETA solvent were experimentally investigated in a lab‐scale CO2 capture test bed. And the results were compared with monoethanolamine (MEA) solvent, which is a standard solvent for CO2 capture in industry. Also, effects of solvent concentration, lean CO2 loading, lean solvent temperature, solvent flow rate and flue gas flow rate on the absorption performance of DETA and MEA solvent, and effects of lean CO2 loading and solvent flow rate on the regeneration performance of DETA and MEA solvent were studied. The results showed that DETA had a faster CO2 absorption rate and a higher CO2 cyclic capacity than MEA solvent. And to strip the same amount of CO2, DETA needed less regeneration energy than MEA solvent. In addition, the results also showed that key operating parameters of absorber and stripper had large effects on the performance of CO2 absorption and desorption. © 2017 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Environ Prog, 36: 1131–1138, 2017