Simultaneous carbon dioxide capture and utilization using thermal desalination reject brine Abdallah Dindi, Dang Viet Quang, Mohammad R.M. Abu-Zahra ⇑ The Institute Center for Energy (iEnergy), Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, P.O. Box 54224, Masdar City, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates highlights  The simultaneous capture and utilization of CO 2 with reject brine is feasible.  The use of 2 amino 2 methyl propanol (AMP) resulted in high precipitation yield.  The proposed amine process is a good replacement for ammonia in the Solvay process.  Higher brine concentration improved the CO 2 absorption capacity. article info Article history: Received 12 February 2015 Received in revised form 12 April 2015 Accepted 4 May 2015 Keywords: CO 2 capture CO 2 utilization Reject brine Alkanolamines Sodium bicarbonate abstract This study evaluated the feasibility of a chemical process which uses desalination brine to convert CO 2 into useful sodium bicarbonate. The process is based on the integration of a modified Solvay process with conventional amine based post-combustion carbon dioxide capture for the simultaneous capture and conversion of CO 2 into solid bicarbonates. A range of amine solvents were evaluated to select the most suitable solvent for the process. Then the effects of parameters such as temperature, brine concentration and amine concentration on the carbonation step of the process were evaluated. Moreover, different techniques for recovering the amine from the chloride rich solution were proposed and investigated. The sterically hindered amine, 2-amino, 2-methyl propanol (AMP), was found to be the best alcohol amine for the process and the CO 2 absorption step was found to be significantly improved at lower tem- peratures, high brine concentrations and moderate amine concentration. For AMP, the optimum concen- tration was found to be 30 wt%. Finally, the amine recovery technique tested showed promise and could be optimized further to give better results. Ó 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) has been recognized as a technology capable of playing a vital role in mitigating the risks associated with climate change [1]. However its implementation on a large scale by sources of CO 2 , like power plants and cement factories, has been slow due to a number of issues. The most important among these issues include the high capital and operat- ing costs required and the general lack of understanding of the technology which has inspired fear and opposition among mem- bers of the public [2,3]. Also, the vagueness on the part of author- ities and policy makers regarding how CCS will be implemented and how liabilities will be distributed among the stakeholders has been cited as a major barrier to the deployment of CCS [4]. In the absence of a strong policy commitment which will minimize the economic risks of CCS, many investors have shied away from undertaking CCS projects, causing the technology to grow at a much slower rate than what is required to meet the 2050 target of reducing global CO 2 emissions to 15 Gtpa [5]. Recently, there has been an emerging consensus in the CCS community that one of the strategies for encouraging investment in CCS is to show a successful business case for it [6]. To enable investors see CCS projects not just as a noble activity to save the planet but also as something which can have a positive impact on the balance sheet. The only way CCS can fulfill this business mandate is through the sale of captured CO 2 to third parties who would utilize it for the manufacture of other useful products like chemicals and synthetic fuels thereby providing a moderate rev- enue stream to offset some of the costs of CCS. As a matter fact, CO 2 utilization has been a major driver of large scale CCS projects in the past few years. The Global CCS Institute http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2015.05.010 0306-2619/Ó 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. ⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +971 28109181. E-mail address: mabuzahra@masdar.ac.ae (M.R.M. Abu-Zahra). Applied Energy 154 (2015) 298–308 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Applied Energy journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/apenergy