Nanofiltration for the concentration of heat stable salts prior to MEA reclamation

J. Lim, C. A. Scholes, L. F. Dumée, S. E. Kentish

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

20 Scopus citations

Abstract

While monethanolamine has shown great potential as a solvent for the capture of carbon dioxide, impurities can build within the solution over time, leading to increased viscosity and corrosivity. Classically, these impurities are removed by a combination of neutralization and either thermal reclamation, ion exchange or electrodialysis. In this work, we evaluate the use of nanofiltration to concentrate the heat stable salts within the solution prior to such reclamation. This allows the recirculating solvent to operate with low concentrations of these impurities, while providing a low volume, concentrated solution for reclamation. Results show that nanofiltration can reject greater than 80% of the heat stable anions, while allowing the monoethanolamine to permeate through the membrane, for return to the process. Rejection of the MEA itself is less than 7%. The nanofiltration operation is only effective on lean solvent with CO2 loadings of less than 0.2 and neutralization would be required upstream to deprotonate the amine. The two membranes tested (Koch MPF-34 and MPF-36) appeared stable to exposure to the solvent for over four months.

Original languageBritish English
Pages (from-to)34-41
Number of pages8
JournalInternational Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control
Volume30
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Nov 2014

Keywords

  • Heat stable salts
  • Monoethanolamine
  • Nanofiltration

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