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Temperature Peak Analysis and Its Effect on Absorption Column for CO2
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 doi 10.1515/cppm-2013-0044
Research Article
Harith Rashid, Nurul Hasan* and M. Iskandar Mohamad Nor
Temperature Peak Analysis and Its Effect on
Absorption Column for CO2 Capture Process at
Different Operating Conditions
Abstract: The role of temperature is important in CO2
capture processes. Unfortunately, detailed analysis on
the temperature profile of the absorption column is
scarce in the literature. Important factors like CO2 capture
capacity and corrosion rate directly depend on tempera-
ture of the column. Many side reactions such as solvent
degradation, formation of stable salts, corrosion and
reduction in CO2 capture are prominent at a higher tem-
perature. This study reports a broad study on the tem-
perature profile for CO2 capture process based on a
detailed mathematical model, Kent–Eisenberg vapor–
liquid equilibrium (VLE) model. This model is quite accu-
rate in calculating CO2 capture for any specific operating
condition. Results produced from Kent–Eisenberg VLE
model are consistent with experimental data. This study
reports temperature profiles of an absorption column for
different operating conditions. Moreover, it was found
that CO2 absorption is more effective at low and ambient
temperatures than at high temperature confirmed by a
peak temperature in all cases and in the lower section of
the column, which is attributed to exothermic CO2
absorption in monoethanolamine. This temperature var-
iation of the column will be helpful in designing CO2
capture plants.
Keywords: temperature, CO2 absorption, packed column,
MEA, peak temperature
*Corresponding author: Nurul Hasan, Center for Research in
Nanotechnology & Catalysis (NANOCEN), University of Malaya, IPS
Building, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, E-mail:
nurulhasan@asme.org
Harith Rashid, Center for Research in Nanotechnology & Catalysis
(NANOCEN), University of Malaya, IPS Building, 50603 Kuala
Lumpur, Malaysia, E-mail: harithrashidraza@gmail.com
M. Iskandar Mohamad Nor, Department of Chemical Engineering,
University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, E-mail: misk@um.edu.my
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Chemical Product and Process Modeling 2014; 9(2): 105–115
1 Introduction
Chemical absorption and desorption is one of the most
efficient continuous processes implemented in chemical
and process industry for CO2 removal from different gas
streams. CO2 removal and storage from industrial flue gas
stream has become a great challenge and opportunity
because of different uses of CO2 in food and process
industry [1–3]. Recovered CO2 can be used to enhance
production in many industries such as fertilizer industry
and enhanced oil recovery [4, 5].
Temperature is a key factor in CO2 absorption pro-
cess, as at high temperatures CO2 absorption decreases
because monoethanolamine (MEA) has a low flash point
(96°C) [6]. Temperature has a direct effect on different
side reactions such as corrosion reaction [7–10] and vola-
tility [11]. Foaming tendency and MEA degradation rates
[12–14] also depend on the temperature. Side reactions
such as degradation of amine solution and formation of
stable salts start to occur at high temperature [13, 15].
Solvent degradation, corrosion and formation of stable
salts are directly related to rise in temperature of the
solution in absorption column and have been reported
in the literature [16, 17]. This reduces overall efficiency of
the absorption process by loss in amine concentration.
Corrosion of absorption column is one of the major pro-
blems in CO2 capture process, which is associated with
temperature [10]. At high temperature, corrosion rate
increases in the presence of CO2 and water [7, 8].
Minimizing the losses in amine concentration and corro-
sion rates at the higher temperature are essential for
efficient operational cost of the process [13, 16, 17].
CO2 absorption and desorption technology is one of
the extensively employed technologies for large-scale
applications on existing process industry [18, 19].
However, it is still costly because of high-energy
106 H. Rashid et al.: Temperature Peak Analysis and Its Effect on Absorption Column

requirements and high prices of amine solutions [4, 20,
21]. Efforts overcoming such constraints produced differ-
ent types of alkanolamine solutions. MEA is a primary
amine, diethanolamine (DEA) is a secondary amine, and
N-methyldiethanolamine (MDEA) is a tertiary amine solu-
tion. These amines are most popular for CO2 absorption
process [1]. Popularity of these amine solutions is due to
their ability to absorb CO2 at low temperature and low
pressure which resulted in less solvent recovery energy
consumption in regenerator [18]. Recent trends are blend-
ing of amine solution for CO2 absorption process
[4, 22–26] to take advantage of all the favorable charac-
teristics of the amines.
Selection of the amine solution is the essential factor
for this absorption and desorption process [33]. Amine
solution should have high reaction rates with CO2 at oper-
ating conditions and should be economical with low pro-
pensity to degrade over time [15], wide operating range of
temperature, pressure and CO2 concentration in the flue
gas [34]. MEA is used as an amine solution in this research,
as it is being used by most of the process industry imple-
menting absorption/desorption technology. MEA is a pri-
mary amine with high reaction rates [35]. Amine solutions
mostly used for CO2 absorption process have high reaction
rate at relatively low (atmospheric) temperature and pres-
sure [36]. Table 1 shows the temperature range of different
amine solution studies in the literature.
Determination of the effect of temperature on CO2
capture process across the column is the core of this
study. Numerically, the simulated data are validated
with the experimental data reported by deMontigny
et al. [37]. Objectives of this research are to study the
temperature profile along the column for different oper-
ating conditions. In the first part of the study, concentra-
tion of CO2 and MEA is varied and then amine and gas
stream flow rates. Detailed temperature profiles for dif-
ferent CO2 mole fractions in flue gas were studied, fol-
lowed by MEA concentration (in amine solution) studies
with respect to temperature rise of absorption column.
2 Experimental setup and
computational model
Experimental data for CO2 absorption in MEA solution
were taken from the experiments performed by
deMontigny et al. [37]. Simulation results were validated
against the experimental results to gauge the accuracy of
the predicted data. Column internals for simulated data
were identical to experimental setup. In the experimental
setup, CO2 concentration in the gas stream was measured
at different points, using an infrared gas analyzer.
Operating conditions for validation cases were identical
to those in the experiments ensuring consistent valida-
tion domain.
A large absorption column with small diameter is
used (in the experimental setup) to study CO2 absorption
in MEA aqueous amine solution. A controlled mixture of
CO2 and air enters into the packed absorption column
from the bottom of the column and rises in the column
while amine solution enters from the top of the column
and flows downward. All the experiments were con-
ducted in batch mode where amine is pumped from the
lean amine tank. During the course of CO2 absorption,
infrared gas analyzer is used to measure CO2 concentra-
tion in the gas phase. Figure 1 shows the systematic
diagram of the packed absorption column. CO2 absorp-
tion process in amine solution is an exothermic reaction
with high reaction rate [27, 34, 38]. Therefore, the tem-
perature of amine solution increases as it has a direct
contact with the gas stream and absorbs CO2. High water
content in amine solution decreases the temperature of
amine solution by evaporation of water [29, 32]. And
amine solution temperature comes back to its original
operating temperature before it leaves the column from
the bottom of the column [28, 29, 32].
CO2 absorption process was carried out in the absorp-
tion column, and experimental results for this run are
listed in Table 2. Simulated results are obtained by

Table 1 Study of MEA as an amine for different operating temperatures for CO2 absorption

Amine Operating temperature (K) Height of the column (m) Model Reference

MEA 313–328 6.1 gPROMS Dynamic Model Kvamsdal and Rochelle [27]
MEA/TETA 303–368 1 Experimentation Schäffer et al. [4]
MEA 313–337 4.39 Vapor–Liquid Equilibrium (VLE) Cormos and Gaspar [28]
MEA 340–370 6.1 Rate-Based Model Biliyok et al. [29]
MEA 292 7 Rate-Based Process Model Khan et al. [30]
MEA 290–335 2 Rate-Based Mathematical Model Gaspar and Cormos [31]
MEA 313–333 7 VLE Mathematical Model Mores et al. [32]

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 H. Rashid et al.: Temperature Peak Analysis and Its Effect on Absorption Column 107

Figure 1 Systematic diagram for CO2 absorption process in amine solution [37]

Table 2 CO2 absorption in MEA solution in a Sulzer DX packed 7. Other chemical reactions are considered only to
column account for the ionization of different chemical spe-
cies in the aqueous amine solution.
Sampling point Experimental run [37] This investigation 8. The solubility of carbon dioxide in liquid phase is
described by Henry’s law
0.00 m (gas in) 14.23 14.23
0.24 m 10.33 8.7
0.47 m 4.31 3.8 One of the contributions of this study is to tune with
0.71 m 0.24 0.22 justification the packing parameters and packing type.
0.94 m 0.38 0.38 Another contribution is the use of mass and energy bal-
1.18 m 0.14 0.13
ance equations in this research to predict experimental
1.41 m 0.00 0.01
data with high accuracy. Most of the parameters men-
tioned in these equations (eqs 1–7) are tabulated in
Table 4.
solving CO2 absorption process using Kent–Eisenberg Amine package is used as a thermodynamic model to
model. Some of the assumptions made in this study are simulate all the test cases, as the operating parameters of
listed as follows. all the cases studied in this research are within recom-
1. It is assumed that all the reactions between CO2 and mended range of this model. Kent–Eisenberg VLE model
MEA take place in the liquid phase and there is no is used in this study to calculate CO2 absorption in amine
reaction in the gaseous phase. solution [39, 40]. Non-ideal vapor phase model is used in
2. The system is studied in non-ideal conditions. this study, because CO2 diffusion in the gas phase and at
3. Plug flow regime of both phases. gas–liquid inter-phase has high resistance especially at
4. Model parameters are constant in the radial cross- low CO2 concentration in the gas stream. Absorption
section of the column. column is a packed column with Sulzer DX used as a
5. Heat transfer by conduction and radiation is negligible. packing material. The column is 2.4 m high and has an
6. Similarly, it is assumed that zwitter ion formation internal diameter of 28 mm. The column contains 40
reaction is the only form of chemical absorption of packing stages, each 54 mm high. Total available area
CO2 into the amine solution. is 1.20 m2. High surface area and minimal pressure drop

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108 H. Rashid et al.: Temperature Peak Analysis and Its Effect on Absorption Column

demonstrated by Sulzer DX packing promoted its use in Energy balance for CO2 absorption is discussed in
absorption columns for different applications [31, 41–46]. detail in Appendix. Modified energy balance equations
More than 50 test cases for CO2 absorption are solved for for liquid and gas phase are shown as follows:
X Ni Δi H 
absorption column over a wide range of operating condi-
@TL @TL NR ΔR H hau
tions (Table 3). Kent–Eisenberg VLE model has a different ¼ vL   au V
þ ðTG  TL Þ
@t @z ρL cpL ρL cpL ρL cpL
set of equations for mass and heat balance of vapor and
ð5Þ
liquid phase. Industrial grade Amine package in HYSYS®
is a modified form of Kent–Eisenberg VLE model, which
@TG @TG hau
is equipped with several correlations for calculation of ¼ vG þ ðTG  TL Þ ð6Þ
@t @z ρG cpG
thermodynamic properties of liquid and gas phase.
Eqs (5) and (6) represent heat balance for liquid and gas
Table 3 Packed column internals and operating conditions [37] phases, respectively. The reaction rate for CO2 absorption
process is calculated using the following correlation:
Description Sulzer DX   N
E Y
RCO2 ¼ kjk0 T n exp  C αi ð7Þ
Packing data RT i¼1 i
2 3
Surface area 900 m /m
Crimp height 2.9 mm Kjk0 (m3/mol s) is pre-exponential function, E (J/mol) is
Corrugation base 6.4 mm activation energy, and C (mol/m3) is concentration. All
Crimp angle 60°
these terms are to be specified based on the physical
Void fraction 0.775
Packed column data properties of the CO2 absorption process.
Diameter 0.028 m Correlations for different parameters such as physical
Number of packing elements 40 properties and mass-transfer coefficients are required for
Element length 0.054 m developing any model (Table 4).
Total packing height 2.16 m
Total available surface area 1.20 m2
Operating conditions
Flue gas flow rate (kmol m−2 h−1)
Lean amine solution flow rate (m3 m−2 h−1)
30.7
5–8
3 Results and discussion
MEA concentration (kmol/m3) 1.25–5
CO2 concentration in the flue gas (mol/mol) 10–25 Simulated results for CO2 absorption in MEA solution
Temperature (K) 291–373 were validated against experimental data reported by
deMontigny et al. [37]. Figure 2 shows the validation
case for simulated results along with the experimental
Detail of total mass balance for liquid and gas phases in data showing column height vs CO2 concentration. Flow
CO2 absorption process is given in Appendix. However, rate of the gas stream was 30.9 kmol m−2 h−1 with CO2
total mass balance for the gas and the liquid phases is mole percentage of 14.23%. Liquid stream flow rate was
shown in eqs (1) and (2): 5.4 m3 m−2 h−1 with MEA concentration of 2 kmol/m3. It
@FL @FL vL S X can be seen from Figure 2 that simulated data for this
¼ vL þ ðMi :Ni Þ ð1Þ work are in line with the experimental results. Previous
@t @z ρL
researchers have also predicted the behavior of CO2
@FG @FG vG S X absorption using mathematical and thermodynamical
¼ vG þ ðMi Ni Þ ð2Þ
@t @z ρG models, but they were not able to predict the experimen-
Component balance for the components in liquid and tal data [37, 47, 48] trend with reasonable accuracy. The
gas phase is given by the following equations: closest model exhibited a 28% deviation compared to
experimental data published by deMontigny et al. [37].
@CLi @C i X Other models overestimated with greater magnitude [47,
¼ vL L þ ðau Ni Þ þ Rj ð3Þ
@t @z 48]. On the other hand, the proposed model is able to
predict the experimental behavior of CO2 absorption in
@CGi @C i X
¼ vG G þ ðau Ni Þ ð4Þ amine solution with significant accuracy.
@t @z
Figure 3 is a plot for change in CO2 concentration as a
Ci in eqs (3) and (4) represent the concentration of any function of operating temperature along the height of the
component i. column. Here, there is a similar trend in the behavior of

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 H. Rashid et al.: Temperature Peak Analysis and Its Effect on Absorption Column 109

Table 4 The model parameter values for operating conditions presented in Table 3

Temperature (K) Diameter of the Density of liquid Viscosity of Surface area Specific heat (kJ/kg Heat of vaporization
column (mm) (kg/m3) liquid (cP) (m3/m2) mol °C) (kJ/kg mol)

298 28 1,018 1.175 900 78.06 41,420

303 28 1,016 1.041 900 78.85 41,420
308 28 1,015 0.9255 900 79.11 41,420
313 28 1,013 0.8282 900 79.64 41,420
318 28 1,012 0.7456 900 80.17 41,420

Figure 2 Validation case with experimental data and curves for other models. deMontigny et al. [37] performed the experiment with same
operating conditions

Figure 3 Effect of operating temperature on CO2 absorption in amine solution

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110 H. Rashid et al.: Temperature Peak Analysis and Its Effect on Absorption Column

CO2 absorption in amine solution for different operating
temperatures. With an increase in temperature, there is a
decrease in MEA performance due to high mobility of CO2
in the gas stream and a large amount of MEA evaporation
[29, 32]. High temperature offers higher MEA and water
evaporation. CO2 absorption in MEA solution for 318 K is
lower than other temperatures. Similarly, at high tem-
perature, all the CO2 is not removed from the gas stream,
which resulted in reduced net efficiency of the process.
Figure 4 shows the change in temperature along the
height of the column for the same temperature range.
For all cases, there is a high temperature peak showing
the maximum temperature that is achieved during the
absorption process. This point occurs at the bottom of
the column. When the gas enters in the column from the
bottom of the column, it contains a high concentration of
CO2 in the gas stream creating a concentration gradient
facilitating the absorption of CO2 into the amine solution.
As the reaction between amine and CO2 is exother-
mic, the additional heat causes a sudden increase in
temperature and potential rise to a maximum value.
This maximum temperature occurs at the lower level of
the column between 0.1 and 0.2 m from the bottom of the
packing. So following absorption, exothermic chemical
reactions take place between MEA and CO2. These
mechanisms increase the liquid temperature, and conse-
quently the amine outlet (reach) temperature will be
higher than the amine inlet (lean) temperature. After the
maximum temperature, the temperature of the system
gradually decreases due to the evaporation of water
[29, 31, 32]. Most of the CO2 is absorbed in the amine
solution within the first 1 m from the bottom of the
column, so temperature in the upper region is same as
the temperature of the system (Figure 4). Other research-
ers have also reported similar trends [4, 27–29]. For high
operating temperature, the peak of temperature is high as
compared to low temperature curves. For high tempera-
ture, deviation in temperature is high from the operating
temperature of the absorption column. This can be attrib-
uted to high mobility of molecules in the system at high
temperature, which reduces reaction rate between MEA
and CO2. Eq. (5) represents the heat balance for CO2
absorption process. The second term in this equation
represents the reaction rate between CO2 and MEA, third
term represents the heat released for condensation/
vaporization of water, and the last term represents the
change in temperature of the two phases due to heat
released during the process of CO2 absorption.
Figure 5 shows the effect of CO2 concentration in flue
gas on the temperature profile of the absorption column.
CO2 reacts with MEA, which is exothermic [44, 47, 49, 50].
Therefore, flue gas with high CO2 concentration will exhi-
bit a higher peak in the temperature profile of the absorp-
tion column. This is due to more CO2 exothermic
absorption in amine solution and more heat release exhi-
biting increase in overall temperature of the absorption

Figure 4 Temperature profile for different operating temperatures in the range of 298–318 K

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 H. Rashid et al.: Temperature Peak Analysis and Its Effect on Absorption Column 111

Figure 5 Temperature profile of the absorption column for different CO2 concentrations in flue gas

column. In addition, after most of the CO2 in the gas
stream is absorbed in amine solution, temperature starts
to decrease due to evaporation of water [29, 32]. Figure 5
shows that there is a low increase in temperature for 10
mol/mol of CO2 in the gas stream. Comparatively a higher
temperature is achieved in case of 25 mol/mol of CO2 in
gas. The peak occurs at 0.3-m height in the column (for
all the cases), and then there is a decrease in overall
temperature of the column. It is important to note that
for all the cases, temperature eventually drops to its
original operating value [28, 29].
Figure 6 shows temperature profile of the absorption
column for different MEA concentrations in amine solu-
tion. Concentration of MEA is in the range of 1.25–5 kmol/
m3. In the bottom of the column, the low MEA containing
case (1.25 kmol/m3) has lower temperature compared
with higher MEA case (5 kmol/m3) because of the higher
heat capacity of the dilute MEA. This trend continues
until the very bottom of the column (0.174 m). When
the low MEA case absorbs less amount of CO2, resulting
in less heat of absorption, the column temperature
decreases suddenly and steeper compared to higher
MEA containing case. This is due to high amine solution
concentration at higher MEA concentrations [51]. This
sharp increase is due to the high rate of exothermic
reaction for CO2 absorption in amine solution. Overall,
the model suggests that temperature profile peak magni-
tude is a function of MEA concentration.
4 Conclusions
A comprehensive Kent–Eisenberg VLE model is used to
measure CO2 capture in MEA solution. The model sug-
gests different peak temperature values for different oper-
ating conditions. Peak temperature value was found and
was reported for all operational conditions. This study
provided CO2 absorption in amine solution is more effi-
cient at low operating temperatures than at high tempera-
ture. At high temperature, CO2 capture is low due to
exothermic absorption in amine solution. With an
increase in CO2 mole fraction in flue gas, there is a
prominent rise in peak temperature of the absorption
column due to more CO2 capture. For 10 mol% CO2 in
flue gas, peak temperature is 306.5 K, and for 25 mol%
CO2 in flue gas peak temperature is 319 K. For high MEA
concentration, i.e. 5 kmol/m3, temperature of the column
is high (310 K) and temperature of the column cools down
to operating temperature at 1.8 m in the column. This is
due to increase in amine solution viscosity at high amine
concentration.

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112 H. Rashid et al.: Temperature Peak Analysis and Its Effect on Absorption Column

Figure 6 Temperature profile of the absorption column for MEA concentration

Nomenclature j
c
no. of stages in absorption column
heat transfer by convection
v heat transfer by vaporization
ae effective mass-transfer area (m2/m3)
r heat of reaction
au interfacial mass-transfer area (m2/m3)
Ci molar concentration (mol/m3)
cp specific heat capacity (J/mol K)
Di diffusivity of component i (m2/s)
Appendix
E activation energy (J/mol)
ε hold-up (m3/m3)
ΔRH reaction heat (J/mol)
Mass-transfer area
ΔVH vaporization/condensation heat (J/kmol)
F volumetric flow rate (m3/s) Eq. (8) represents the correlation for calculating the
h heat-transfer coefficient (J/m3 K s) mass-transfer area in the column [32].
Kjk0 pre-exponential function (m3/mol s)
heat-transfer coefficient (J/m2 K s) ae
k ¼ 0:456ReL0:3 ð8Þ
M molecular weight (g/mol) au
N interfacial molar flux (mol/m2 s)
where ae (m2/m3) and au (m2/m3) are effective mass-trans-
Re Reynolds number
Rj reaction rate of reaction j (mol/m3 s) fer area and interfacial area of the packing used, respec-
s column’s cross-sectional area (m2) tively. Re is the Reynolds number of liquid. This
S source of heat in the system (J/m3 s) expression is used to calculate the interfacial area.
T temperature (K)
t time (s)
u velocity in x direction (m/s) Heat balance equation in the liquid phase is
v velocity in y direction (m/s)
given as
w velocity in z direction (m/s)
 
z axial column coordinates @TL @ @TL
ρ density (kg/m3) ρL cp;L ¼ kL  ρL cp;L ux;L TL
@t @x @x
Subscript/superscript  
@ @TL
→
þ kL  ρL cp;L vy;L TL ð9Þ
Vector @y @y
G gas phase  
@ @TL
L liquid phase þ kL  ρL cp;L wz;L TL þ S
i CO2, MEA and H2O
@z @z

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 H. Rashid et al.: Temperature Peak Analysis and Its Effect on Absorption Column 113

This is a three-dimensional energy-transfer equation, Δv,iH (J/mol) represents heat of vaporization or condensa-
which is used for heat balance of different processes. ρL tion. However, there are three components such as CO2,
is the density of liquid, cp,L is the specific heat of the MEA and H2O. So, eq. (14) is modified as a sum of all the
liquid phase, ux,L is the velocity in x direction, vy,L is the components as:
velocity of liquid in y direction, wz,L is the velocity of P 
Sv;L ¼ au Ni Δv;i H ð15Þ
liquid in z direction, and TL is temperature of the liquid
phase. Unit for the left-hand side of the above equation is Heat of vaporization for all the components is summar-
calculated out to be W/m3. Therefore, to make the units ized in eq. (15). Now, eq. (11) can be modified by adding
consistent, all the terms in eq. (9) should have the same all the terms for heat transfer and also neglecting KL for
units including the source term S. The source term the liquid phase as its value is very less in this case.
includes Sc,L, for heat transfer through convection in the Therefore, heat balance for the liquid phase can be mod-
liquid phase, Sr,L, for heat of reaction and Sv,L, for heat of ified dividing both sides with ρLcp,L to separate the tem-
vaporization or condensation. Therefore, the modified perature, and the new form of the equation is given as:
form of eq. (9) becomes
@TL @TL hau
  ¼  uz;L þ ðTG  TL Þ
@TL @ @TL @t @z ρL cp;L
ρL cp;L ¼  ρL cp;L ux;L TL   X Ni Δv;i H  ð16Þ
kL
@t @x @x NR ΔR H
    au :
@ @TL ρL cp;L ρL cp;L
þ kL  ρL cp;L vy;L TL
@y @y
  Eq. (16) is the expression for heat balance in the liquid phase.
@ @TL
þ kL  ρL cp;L wz;L TL þ Sc;L þ Sr;L þ Sv;L
@z @z
ð10Þ Heat balance in gas phase
It is important to note that the unit of all the terms in
Heat balance in gas phase is obtained by changing
eq. (10) should be equal to W/m3. For one-dimensional
eq. (10) as:
analysis, eq. (10) can be reduced to the following form:  
 @T  @TG @ @TG
ρL cp;L @T @ ρG cp;G ¼ kG  ρG cp;G ux;G TG
@t ¼ @z kL @z  ρL cp;L uz;L TL þ Sc;L þ Sr;L þ Sv;L @t @x @x
L L

 
ð11Þ @ @TG
þ kG  ρG cp;G vy;G TG
@y @y
According to law, heat transfer by convection is given as:  
@ @TG
þ kG  ρG cp;G wz;G TG þ Sc;G þ Sr;G þ Sv;G
Sc;L ¼ hau ðTG  TL Þ ð12Þ @z @z
where h (W/m K) is heat-transfer coefficient, au (m /m3)
2 2 ð17Þ
is interfacial area, and TG and TL represent temperature For the gas phase, there is no vaporization, so Sv,L ¼ 0, and
for liquid and gas phase, respectively. However, heat of it is also assumed that there is no reaction taking place in the
reaction for CO2 absorption in aqueous amine solution is gas phase, Sr,L ¼ 0. Similarly, KG for gas phase is very low,
generalized with the standard expression for exothermic so it is also neglected in heat balance expression for gas
heat of reaction as: phase. Eq. (17) is modified by these assumptions as:
Sr;L ¼ ðNR ΔR H Þ ð13Þ @TG @TG
ρG cp;G ¼ ρG cp;G uz;G þ Sc;G ð18Þ
where minus sign in eq. (13) represents exothermic reac- @t @z
tion between CO2 and MEA. NR (mol/m3 s) is the number Now, heat transfer by convection in gas phase is given as:
of reactants, reacting per second and ΔRH is heat of Sc;G ¼ hau ðTL  TG Þ ð19Þ
reaction in J/mol.
Similarly, expression for heat of vaporization or con- Eq. (18) is modified by adding the term for convective heat
densation for all the components is given as follows: transfer from eq. (19) and dividing both sides of the equation
with ρLcp,L to get the equation with temperature term as:
Sv;L ¼ au ðNΔv H Þ ð14Þ
@TG @TG hau
¼ uz;G þ ðTL  TG Þ ð20Þ
where au (m2/m3) represents interfacial area between @t @z ρG cp;G
liquid and gas as vaporization and condensation takes
Eq. (20) is heat balance equation for gas phase in CO2
place on the interface, N (mol/m2 s) is molar flux, and
absorption process.

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114 H. Rashid et al.: Temperature Peak Analysis and Its Effect on Absorption Column

Stage efficiency of absorber Liquid loading packing factor for gas and
liquid
For a vapor–liquid separation process, considering that
both liquid and gas streams are interacting at the inter- Liquid loading gas factors for liquid and gas streams
face [32]. Murphree’s plate efficiency for component i represented as Gfz and Lfz (kg/m2 s) are calculated by
on stage j of the column is given as: using eqs (23) and (24), respectively, as follows:
! 
yi;j  yi;jþ1 G0 Fpd 0:5
ηM ¼ ð21Þ Gfz ¼ 986  0:5 ð10Þ0:3 ρGz ð23Þ
yi;j  yi;jþ1 ρG 3600 20
z

Eq. (21) represents Murphree’s plate efficiency for equili-   0:5  0:1
brium stage. However, for non-equilibrium stage, gas 6:24 20 μLz
Lfz ¼ L0 ð24Þ
flow rate FG is introduced into the correlation for ρ0 Fpd 1000
Murphree’s plate efficiency. So, eq. (21) is modified in a where G′ and L′ are gas and liquid mass velocity (kg/m2 s),
new form as follows: respectively, ρG and ρG (kg/m3) are mass density for gas
and liquid streams, respectively, and µL is viscosity of
FG;j yi;j  FG;jþ1 yi;jþ1
ηj ¼ ð22Þ liquid (kg/m s) [32].
FG:j yi;j  FG;jþ1 yi;jþ1

 Pressure drop on each stage

where yi;j in eq. (22) represents the composition of mole-
cular concentration of different components leaving the
stage j at equilibrium. The total pressure drop for each stage along the column
is calculated using eq. (25) [32]:
P
ΔP ¼ ΔPz dz ð25Þ
z

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