CRE PROJECT

G. Sanjay Kumar, (Entry No: 2010CHZ8015)

Email: gudasan@gmail.com, Mobile: 97600 92522
Pravakar Mohanty, (Entry No: 2009CHZ80–)
Email: pravakar.mohanty@gmail.com, Mobile: 90134 07927
Dept. of Chemical Engineering
Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi
October 19, 2010

1
Introduction
This project begins with the work of Zhang et. al. [1] and simulates a
commercial column for absorption of CO2 into a solution of aqueous methyl-
diethanolamine (MDEA) and piperazine (PZ). The mathematical model is
given in detail below.

References
Other papers include those of Zhang in 2001 [2], Bishnoi in 2000 [3], Liu in
1999 [4], Xu in 1992 [5], Haimour 1987 [6] and the book of Danckwerts [7].

2
Mathematical Model
Consider an element of a packed column. The amount of CO2 absorption is
related to the change of conversion as

0
dG = LCam dy (1)
where
G = amount of CO2 absorption in the column per hour (kmol/h)
L = flow rate of the liquid (m3 /h)
C0am = concentration of MDEA in the initial state
y = conversion of CO2
The effect of high CO2 pressure was studied in the paper of Zhang[1].
The complex effect of pressure on the surface disturbance was lumped into
an index f which premultiplies the rate of absorption term as below.
q
dG = f HCO2 DCO2 (kam Cam + kp Cp )(P − P ∗ )da (2)
where
f = index accounting for effect of high CO2 partial pressure
HCO2 = solubility coefficient (kmol/m3 MPa)
DCO2 = diffusion coefficient in the liquid phase (m2 /s)
kam = mass transfer coefficient of amine (L/s)
Cam = concentration in the liquid phase (of amine) (kmol/m3 )
kp = mass transfer coefficient of piperazine (L/s)
Cp = concentration in the liquid phase (of piperazine) (kmol/m3 )
P = pressure (kPa)
P ∗ = pressure at interface (at equilibrium) (kP a)
a = effective interfacial area (m2 )
When equation (2) is substituted using equation (1) and integrated we
get
q
dG = f HCO2 DCO2 (kam Cam + kp Cp )(P − P ∗ )da (3)

3
References
[1] Xu Zhang, Jun Wang, Cheng fang Zhang, Yan hua Yang, and Ji jun Xu.
Absorption rate into a mdea aqueous solution blended with piperazine
under a high co2 partial pressure. Industrial and Engineering Chemistry
Research, 42:118–122, 2003.

[2] Xu Zhang, Cheng fang Zhang, Shu-Jun Qin, and Zhi-Sheng Zheng. A
kinetics study on the absorption of carbon dioxide nto a mixed aqueous
solution of methyldiethanolamine and piperazine. Industrial and Engi-
neering Chemistry Research, 40:3785–3791, 2001.

[3] Sanjay Bishnoi and Gary T. Rochelle. Absorption of carbon dioxide

into aqueous piperazine: reaction kinetics, mass transfer and solubility.
Chemical Engineering Science, 55:5531–5543, 2000.

[4] Hua-Bing Liu, Cheng fang Zhang, and Guo-Wen Xu. A study on equilib-
rium solubility for carbon dioxide in methyldiethanolamine-piperazine-
water solution. Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research, 38:4032–
4036, 1999.

[5] Guo-Wen Xu, Cheng fang Zhang, Shu-Jun Qin, and Yi-Wei Wang. Ki-
netics study of absorption of carbon dioxide into solutions of activated
methyldiethanolamine. Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research,
31:921–927, 1992.

[6] Noman Haimour, Ali Bidarian, and Orville C. Sandall. Kinetics of the
reaction between carbon dioxide and methyldiethanolamine. Chemical
Engineering Science, 42(6):1393–1398, 1987.

[7] P. V. Danckwerts. Gas-Liquid Reactions. McGraw Hill, New York, 1970.