Reduction of energy consumption in post-combustion carbon capture process via amine-functionalized metal-organic frameworks

In this study, CO2 capture performance of ethylenediamine-functionalized Mg-MOF-74 (EDMOF-74) suspended in 30 wt% monoethanolamine (MEA) aqueous solution is analyzed. A CO2 absorption experiment was performed in a bubble column reactor based on EDMOF-74 concentrations of 0.005, 0.01, 0.05, and 0.1 wt% for different ethylenediamine loadings. It shows that EDMOF-74/30 wt% MEA mixtures improve CO2 absorption performance by a maximum of 7.18 % as compared with the base fluid. Subsequent experiment based on large-volume feed gas reveals a less volatile CO2 absorption rate. By adding EDMOF-74 to the 30 wt% MEA aqueous solution in a cyclic CO2 absorption experiment to evaluate its industrial application, an increase in durability is indicated, which implies a reduction in energy consumption during CO2 regeneration. A feasibility study on the reduction of CO2 regeneration energy was investigated in terms of the results of cyclic experiment and the facility status of Boryeong power plant. The CO2 regeneration energy can be reduced by 13.64 %, which corresponds to a decrease of 484,233 MWht/year for 1 unit of the Boryeong power plant. The abovementioned approach is expected to compensate for the disadvantages of MEA in the industrial CO2 capture process, i.e., low CO2 capacity and high CO2 regeneration energy input.