Enhanced CO2 Capture from Flue Gas Using Monoethanolamine and Silica Nanoparticles

Abstract Carbon neutrality is crucial in the fight against climate change, as it refers to a state in which CO2 emissions balance with measures of removal and offsetting, effectively meaning no net increase of CO2 in the atmosphere. This mandates that technologies for the capture of CO2 from flue gases a technology of the utmost importance in reducing greenhouse gas emissions from industrial sources. MEA is a very established solvent for CO2 capture, but it could be improved if nanoparticles are added to make the performance better. The primary objective of the study is to evaluate the CO2 absorption efficiency of MEA in combination with RH-derived silica nanoparticles and compare the absorption–desorption rates of the nanoparticle-enhanced MEA solution to that of pure MEA. Adding RHSNp to the MEA solution greatly improved the CO2 capture efficiency and absorption rates. The experiment showed an 83.33% efficiency of CO2 capture using a 22 wt% MEA solution with 0.5 wt% silica nanoparticles (RHSNp), whereas 66.67% CO2 capture efficiency was observed without adding RHSNp. The rate of absorption of CO2 was calculated to be 4.5 litres per hour. During desorption, a CO2 stripping efficiency of up to 95% was realized. These results demonstrate improved solvent regeneration and CO2 capture with the nanoparticle-enhanced MEA solution. This research work has demonstrated the potential of silica nanoparticles to enhance MEA performance for CO2 capture from flue gases. It is concluded that nanoparticle-enhanced MEA solution can be more effective and absorb at an increased rate compared to the usual MEA solution. These results suggest that this could be a promising approach to incorporate nanoparticles into amine-based solvents for process intensification in industrial CO2 capture, with benefits that are particularly prominent in scalability and application.