Mixture of piperazine and potassium carbonate to absorb CO<inf>2</inf> in the packed column: Modelling study

Abstract

A rate-based non-equilibrium model is developed for CO2 absorption with the mixture of piperazine and potassium carbonate solution. The model is based on the mass and heat transfer between the liquid and the gas phases on each packed column segment. The thermodynamic equilibrium assumption (physical equilibrium) is considered only at the gas–liquid interface and chemical equilibrium is assumed in the liquid phase bulk. The calculated mass transfer coefficient from available correlations is corrected by the enhancement factor to account for the chemical reactions in the system. The Extended-UNIQUAC model is used to calculate the non-idealities related to the liquid phase, and the Soave-Redlich-Kwong (SRK) equation of state is used for the gas phase calculations. The thermodynamic analysis is also performed in this study. The enhancement factor is used to represent the effect of chemical reactions of the piperazine promoted potassium carbonate solution, which has not been considered given the rigorous electrolyte thermodynamics in the absorber. The developed model showed good agreement with the experimental data and similar studies in the literature.