Mass-Transfer Characteristics of the CO2Absorption Process in a Rotating Packed Bed

This article presents systematic investigations on the mass-transfer characteristics, including the overall gas-phase volumetric mass-transfer coefficient ( K G a ) and the height of mass-transfer unit ( HTU ), of the CO 2 absorption process into a mixture of diethylenetriamine (DETA) and piperazine (PZ) solution in a rotating packed bed (RPB). The effects of operating conditions, including PZ concentration, rotation speed, liquid volumetric flow rate, gas volumetric flow rate, gas treatment capacity of packing, inlet CO 2 mole fraction, temperature, CO 2 loading of lean solution, and distributor specification on K G a and HTU in the RPB, were systematically studied. Also, a comparison of CO 2 absorption performance between the packed column with Dixon rings packing and the RPB is presented. Results indicate that both K G a and HTU were significantly affected by rotation speed, liquid volumetric flow rate, gas volumetric flow rate, temperature, and lean CO 2 loading while the PZ concentration, inlet CO 2 mole fraction, and liquid distributor had minimal effect on K G a and HTU . It was noted that a RPB exhibits better mass-transfer performance compared to a packed column with Dixon rings packing.