Modelagem e simulação do processo de remoção CO2 usando microrreator

Abstract

The removal of CO2 has attracted the interest of industries and researchers due to the continuous increase in the demand for natural gas and the growing concern with environmental aspects, mainly related to greenhouse gases. However, traditional absorption-removal methods, although well established, have had modest efficiencies. A promising option is the use of microreactors to remove CO2 by absorption, mainly related to its large area of contact, better mixing and low resistance by mass transfer. In this work, a mathematical modeling was developed to evaluate the removal of CO2 in physical and chemical absorption regimes in microreactors. Two gas streams composed of N2 and CO2 and CH4, N2 and CO2 under atmospheric pressure (1 atm) and ambient temperature (25 ° C) were analyzed under different operating conditions and different solvents (distilled water, MEA, EtilEA and TEA). The results showed that the model presents exceptional adaptation to the experimental data with absolute mean error of less than 3% and excellent predictive capacity. With the model contribution, it was possible to observe that the addition of CH4 did not significantly alter the CO2 absorbed amount, although the variation of the mass transfer resistances was verified. The higher CO2 absorption efficiencies were obtained at lower gas velocities and lower gas-liquid ratios. It was also verified that the presence of chemical reaction intensified the mass transfer, mostly to EtilEA. And the connection microtube contributed to the final efficiency.