CO₂ absorption/desorption and mass transfer performance of MDEA-MEA blended solution in micropacked bed reactors

Micropacked bed reactors (μPBRs) present excellent transport performance, but lack of related MEA/MDEA blended solution for CO₂ absorption/desorption that hinder the application of decarbonization. In this study, CO₂ absorption/desorption and mass transfer performance in MEA/MDEA blended solution have been investigated in μPBRs with ceramic beads. The effects of operating conditions including fluid superficial velocity, temperature, initial concentration and loading CO₂ of MEA/MDEA blended solution on the absorption/desorption efficiency, desorption rate, and mass transfer coefficient are discussed. The value of k_La of μPBRs with MEA/MDEA blended solution is 0.45 ∼ 8.42 s⁻¹ for CO₂ absorption process, which is bigger than that of conventional reactors and μPBRs with single component amine. For desorption process, the value of desorption efficiency and rate is 19.6–52.1 % and 0.08–1.46 mmol/min, respectively. Compared to the microchannel reactors, MEA/MDEA blended solution shows high desorption efficiency and rate in μPBRs. Additionally, the empirical correlation of k_La is proposed for CO₂ absorption.