Potential of 2-Amino-2-Methyl-1-Propanol Solution as Absorbent for CO<sub>2</sub> Absorption from Biogas

Abstract Biogas is a source of clean energy that mainly consists of methane (CH 4) and carbon dioxide (CO 2). However, the presence of CO 2 in biogas limits the heating value of the gas. Thus, biogas upgrading is a crucial process for reducing the CO 2 content in raw biogas for purified biomethane production. Chemical absorption is a matured technology for CO 2 removal process. The selection of chemical solvent with desirable characteristics is a substantial consideration for the effectiveness of the process. In this work, a potential solvent, 2-amino-2-methyl-1-propanol (AMP) was tested for the removal of CO 2 from simulated biogas. The absorption process was conducted at different gas flow rates (22.1 kmol/m 2.hr and 26.5 kmol/m 2.hr) in a packed column at an operating pressure of 2 bars. The performance was evaluated in terms of percentage of CO 2 removal along the column. It was found that the CO 2 removal performance decreased by about 15 % at higher gas flow rates. Besides, the absorption efficiency of AMP was also compared with a well-established solvent, monoethanolamine (MEA). The experiment substantiated that 30 wt.% MEA effectively captured CO 2 with 100 % removal as compared to 30 wt.% and 40 wt.% AMP with only 69 % and 87 % removal. In order to achieve high reaction rate for efficient CO 2 removal, the addition of activator to form a blended amine solution with AMP was suggested to accelerate the CO 2 absorption performance.

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