Characteristics of CO2Absorption into Aqueous Ammonia

A comprehensive multidisciplinary investigation on CO2 capture from diesel engine

Climate change and global warming are the visible consequences of the increased amount of carbon dioxide (CO₂) in the atmosphere. Among the various sources of anthropogenic CO₂ emission, the diesel engine has a significant contribution. The development of a reliable system to efficiently minimize CO₂ emissions from diesel engines to the safest level is lacking in the open literature. Therefore, a comprehensive multidisciplinary approach has been applied in this paper to investigate the efficacy of the post-combustion carbon capture (PCC) process for the diesel engine. The experiments have been performed on the exhaust of a direct injection diesel engine at five different brake powers with blends of aqueous ammonia (AQ_NH₃), monoethanolamine (MEA), N,N-dimethylethanolamine (DMEA), and 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate (C₂mim BF₄) ionic liquid (IL) as an absorbent for CO₂ capture. The reaction mechanism of these absorbent with CO₂ are also studied by the geometrical, energetical, MESP, frontier molecular orbitals, and NBO analysis using the first-principles density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The maximum CO₂ absorption efficiency of almost 97% was achieved for the blend consisting of 67% of AQ_NH₃ and 33% of MEA. Moreover, AQ_MEA and blend of AQ_NH₃, DMEA, and C₂mim BF₄ ionic liquid showed 96% and 94% CO₂ absorption efficiency, respectively.

Distribution and Transport of CO2 in Hydrated Hyperbranched Poly(ethylenimine) Membranes: A Molecular Dynamics Simulation Approach

Hyperbranched poly(ethylenimine) (HB-PEI) has been distinguished as a promising candidate for carbon dioxide (CO2) capture. In this study, we investigate the distribution and transport of CO2 molecules in a HB-PEI membrane at various hydration levels using molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. For this, model structures consisting of amorphous HB-PEI membranes with CO2 molecules are equilibrated at various hydration levels. Under dry conditions, the primary and secondary amines are highly associated with CO2, indicating that they would participate in CO2 capture via the carbamate formation mechanism. Under hydrated conditions, the pair correlations of CO2 with the primary and secondary amines are reduced. This result suggests that the carbamate formation mechanism is less prevalent compared to dry conditions, which is also supported by CO2 residence time analysis. However, in the presence of water molecules, it is found that the CO2 molecules can be associated with both amine groups and water molecules, which would enable the tertiary amine as well as the primary and secondary amines to capture CO2 molecules via the bicarbonate formation mechanism. Through our MD simulation results, the feasibilities of different CO2 capture pathways in HB-PEI membranes are demonstrated at the molecular level.

Equilibrium Measurements of the NH3-CO2-H2O System: Speciation Based on Raman Spectroscopy and Multivariate Modeling

Liquid speciation is important for reliable process design and optimization of gas-liquid absorption process. Liquid-phase speciation methods are currently available, although they involve tedious and time-consuming laboratory work. Raman spectroscopy is well suited for in situ monitoring of aqueous chemical reactions. Here, we report on the development of a method for speciation of the CO2-NH3-H2O equilibrium using Raman spectroscopy and PLS-R modeling. The quantification methodology presented here offers a novel approach to provide rapid and reliable predictions of the carbon distribution of the CO2-NH3-H2O system, which may be used for process control and optimization. Validation of the reported speciation method which is based on independent, known, NH3-CO2-H2O solutions shows estimated prediction uncertainties for carbonate, bicarbonate, and carbamate of 6.45 mmol/kg H2O, 34.39 mmol/kg H2O, and 100.9 mmol/kg H2O, respectively.

The function of glycine decarboxylase complex is optimized to maintain high photorespiratory flux via buffering of its reaction products

Oxidation of glycine in photorespiratory pathway is the major flux through mitochondria of C3 plants in the light. It sustains increased intramitochondrial concentrations of NADH and NADPH, which are required to engage the internal rotenone-insensitive NAD(P)H dehydrogenases and the alternative oxidase. We discuss here possible mechanisms of high photorespiratory flux maintenance in mitochondria and suggest that it is fulfilled under conditions where the concentrations of glycine decarboxylase reaction products NADH and CO2 achieve an equilibrium provided by malate dehydrogenase and carbonic anhydrase, respectively. This results in the removal of these products from the glycine decarboxylase multienzyme active sites and in the maintenance of their concentrations at levels sufficiently low to prevent substrate inhibition of the reaction.

Integration of CO2 capture and mineral carbonation by using recyclable ammonium salts

A new approach to capture and store CO(2) by mineral carbonation using recyclable ammonium salts was studied. This process integrates CO(2) capture with mineral carbonation by employing NH(3), NH(4)HSO(4), and NH(4)HCO(3) in the capture, mineral dissolution, and carbonation steps, respectively. NH(4)HSO(4) and NH(3) can then be regenerated by thermal decomposition of (NH(4))(2)SO(4). The use of NH(4)HCO(3) as the source of CO(2) can avoid desorption and compression of CO(2). The mass ratio of Mg/NH(4)HCO(3)/NH(3) is the key factor controlling carbonation and the optimum ratio of 1:4:2 gives a conversion of Mg ions to hydromagnesite of 95.5%. Thermogravimetric analysis studies indicated that the regeneration efficiency of NH(4)HSO(4) and NH(3) in this process is 95%. The mass balance of the process shows that about 2.63 tonnes of serpentine, 0.12 tonnes of NH(4)HSO(4), 7.48 tonnes of NH(4)HCO(3), and 0.04 tonnes of NH(3) are required to sequester 1 tonne of CO(2) as hydromagnesite.