Testing the Experimental Unit at PT Lab for Collecting Data of CO2 Solubility in Solvents

Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage (CCUS) is a critical area of research due to its potential to significantly reduce CO2 emissions from industrial processes and fossil fuel-based power generation. Aqueous amine solutions are commonly used as chemical solvents for CO2 capture. However, their application is disfavoured by the high energy requirements and related operational costs, toxicity, and corrosion issues. To address these limitations, research is in general focused on developing novel solvents that can overcome the drawbacks of traditional amines. This development needs the study of phase equilibria in systems for which detailed physicochemical data are often scarce in the literature. In particular, understanding the solubility of gases (CO2) in possible solvent mixtures is essential for evaluating their suitability for chemical or physical absorption processes. In this work, a dedicated setup was installed to generate the experimental data for these novel systems. This unit was designed to measure the solubility and diffusivity of gases in low-volatility liquids that could be alternative CO2 solvents. A detailed experimental procedure was established, and the unit was initially validated by measuring CO2 solubility in a 30 wt% monoethanolamine (MEA) solution, one of the most widely used industrial solvents. The experiments were conducted under conditions representing both the absorption and the regeneration sections of a CO2 removal plant. The resulting equilibrium data were analyzed by employing several thermodynamic models, and the model providing the best representation was selected.