International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control 32 (2015) 15–23 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control j ourna l h o mepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijggc Carbon dioxide capture characteristics from flue gas using aqueous 2-amino-2-methyl-1-propanol (AMP) and monoethanolamine (MEA) solutions in packed bed absorption and regeneration columns Anoar Ali Khan a , G.N. Halder a,∗ , A.K. Saha b a Department of Chemical Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Durgapur, India b Department of Chemical Engineering, Haldia Institute of Technology, Haldia, India a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 21 April 2014 Received in revised form 8 September 2014 Accepted 17 October 2014 Keywords: Carbon dioxide capture Absorption Regeneration MEA/AMP Flue gas a b s t r a c t Increasing concentration of CO 2 in the atmosphere contributing potential negative impact to the envi- ronment has been the subject of worldwide attention over the past few decades. CO 2 , one of the main greenhouse gases (GHG) is getting emitted to the environment from different industries such as fos- sil fuelled power plants, cement industry, refinery and synthetic ammonia production units etc. Gas scrubbing using aqueous alkanolamine solutions is the most promising retrofit option for post com- bustion carbon dioxide capture in recent days. The present study investigates an effective means of eliminating CO 2 from flue gas using two primary amines, namely conventional monoethanolamine (MEA) and a sterically hindered amine, 2-amino-2-methyl-1-propanol (AMP). The CO 2 absorption character- istics were experimentally examined in a packed column under various process conditions viz. CO 2 partial pressure, gas and liquid flow rates, solvent concentrations and operating temperature and pres- sure. While the regeneration of solvent was studied at the temperature range from 368 to 382 K. The present work reports mainly a comparative study of absorption and regeneration behaviour of the two alkanolamines which necessarily include the specific rate of absorption, percentage of CO 2 absorbed, CO 2 loading during absorption and residual CO 2 after solvent regeneration and regeneration efficiency. The specific rate of absorption of AMP and MEA are observed to be (2.11–4.03) × 10 -5 kmol/m 2 s and (5.36–9.55) × 10 -5 kmol/m 2 s, respectively. The maximum percentage of CO 2 absorbed using MEA is 99.13% and AMP is 98.88%. In case of solvent loading capacity (moles of CO 2 per mole of amine) AMP is much better than MEA; the value is 0.777 moles for AMP as compared to MEA value 0.478 moles. The regeneration efficiency of AMP ranging from 96.39 to 97.26% is superior over MEA which is in the range of (79.91–81.55) %. The entire experimental absorption rate data are plotted with the response surface methodology (RSM) fitted data which shows a good agreement with the experimental value for both the amine solvents. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction In the present century increasing emissions of anthropogenic (CO 2 ) in the atmosphere is of growing concern as it is a major contributor to global warming. Mostly green house gases are responsible for the root cause of global warming. Among all the Green house gases (GHGs), viz. CH 4 , CO 2 , Water Vapour, N 2 O, CFCs; carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), methane (CH 4 ) and nitrous oxide (N 2 O) have long-life span in the atmosphere (IEA, 2008). Moreover, CO 2 is considered as the major GHG which influence in typical weather ∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +91 9434788189; fax: +91 343 2547375/2546735. E-mail address: gopinath haldar@yahoo.co.in (G.N. Halder). change due to the high amount of CO 2 released to the envi- ronment compared to other GHGs (Yan et al., 2008; Leimkuhler, 2010). The alarming report comes from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, keepers of the renowned ‘Keeling Curve’ reported a reading of 401.62 ppm (parts per million) on March 12, 2014 com- pared to 316 ppm on year 1958 as measured at Mauna Loa which shows a steady increase in mean atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) concentration. Major sources of CO 2 emission directly coming from energy supply (47%), industry (30%), transport (11%) and buildings sectors (3%). The annual anthropogenic GHG emissions increased by 10 GtCO 2 eq (gigatonne carbon dioxide equivalent) between 2000 and 2010 (IPCC, 2014). The global warming and environmen- tal issues like droughts, floods, and increasing sea level are the perilous effects of GHG emissions, to name a few. Due to the huge http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijggc.2014.10.009 1750-5836/© 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.