Numerical investigation on CO₂ absorbed in aqueous N-methyldiethanolamine + piperazine

A multiphase and multicomponent mass transfer model of CO₂ absorbed in aqueous N-methyldiethanolamine and piperazine (PZ) was built in the study. In the model, a simple method of mass transfer between phases was proposed. Besides, the hydrodynamics, thermodynamics, and complex reversible chemical reaction were considered simultaneously. The model was validated by comparing with the previous experimental data which showed that simulated results can represent the experimental data with reasonable accuracy. Based on the model, the effects of gas velocity, liquid load and CO₂ loading on the absorption rate, and enhancement factor were analyzed. Model results showed that the enhancement factor increased with a rising gas velocity while decreased with a rising liquid load or CO₂ loading. The change of enhancement factor with CO₂ loading was similar to that of equilibrium concentration of PZ which indicated that PZ was significant to the absorption process. Furthermore, the distributions of specie concentrations were discussed in detail.