Interfacial turbulence during the absorption of carbon dioxide into monoethanolamine

Severe discrepancies exist between theoretical considerations and the carbon dioxide–monoethanolamine absorption data available in the literature. By desorbing the inert tracer propylene simultaneously with the absorption of carbon dioxide into monoethanolamine in a short wetted‐wall column, it is shown that the physical mass transfer coefficient is increased substantially by the carbon dioxide–monoethanolamine chemical absorption process. This is presumably due to interfacial turbulence driven by surface tension gradients. The use of the actual physical mass transfer coefficient prevailing during carbon dioxide absorption into monoethanolamine results in a considerable improvement in the agreement between the penetration theory solution and the experimental data on the rate of absorption of carbon dioxide into monoethanolamine.