CH 2352 Mass Transfer - II

Content Beyond Syllabus Topic: Carbon sequestration through effective absorption

Justification:
Carbon dioxide produced during various industrial process is considered as an
important pollutant and green house gas. Global warming being intensified in the past
decade, various sequestration techniques have been under research. Absorption of
carbon dioxide using MEA and DEA is considered as important industrial solution of
reduction of CO2 emissions. Since it is not included in the syllabus, this can be
considered as an important topic of content beyond syllabus.
POs that are satisfied by adding this topic:
PO 6 & PO 14
Lecture Plan:
S.No
1.
2.

Topic Covered
Various carbon
sequestration techniques
MEA and DEA absorption
towers and their design

Number of Periods
1
1

Carbon Sequestration
Carbon sequestration is the process involved in carbon capture and the long-term
storage of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) and may refer specifically to:

"The process of removing carbon from the atmosphere and depositing it in a

reservoir." When carried out deliberately, this may also be referred to as
carbon dioxide removal, which is a form of geoengineering.
Carbon capture and storage, where carbon dioxide is removed from flue gases
(e.g., at power stations) before being stored in underground reservoirs.
Natural biogeochemical cycling of carbon between the atmosphere and
reservoirs, such as by chemical weathering of rocks.

Carbon sequestration describes long-term storage of carbon dioxide or other forms of

carbon to either mitigate or defer global warming and avoid dangerous climate
change. It has been proposed as a way to slow the atmospheric and marine
accumulation of greenhouse gases, which are released by burning fossil fuels.
Carbon dioxide is naturally captured from the atmosphere through biological,
chemical or physical processes. Some anthropogenic sequestration techniques exploit
these natural processes, while some use entirely artificial processes.
Carbon dioxide may be captured as a pure by-product in processes related to
petroleum refining or from flue gases from power generation. CO2 sequestration
includes the storage part of carbon capture and storage, which refers to large-scale,
artificial capture and sequestration of industrially produced CO2 using subsurface
saline aquifers, reservoirs, ocean water, aging oil fields, or other carbon sinks.

Monoethanolamine Absorption
Gases containing H2S or both H2S and CO2 are commonly referred to as sour
gases or acid gases in the hydrocarbon processing industries.
The chemistry involved in the amine treating of such gases varies somewhat with the
particular amine being used. For one of the more common amines, monoethanolamine
(MEA) denoted as RNH2, the chemistry may be expressed as:
RNH2 + H2S

RNH+3 + SH

A typical amine gas treating process (the Girbotol process, as shown in the flow
diagram below) includes an absorber unit and a regenerator unit as well as

accessory equipment. In the absorber, the downflowing amine solution absorbs H 2S

and CO2 from the upflowing sour gas to produce a sweetened gas stream (i.e., a gas
free of hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide) as a product and an amine solution rich
in the absorbed acid gases. The resultant "rich" amine is then routed into the
regenerator (a stripper with a reboiler) to produce regenerated or "lean" amine that is
recycled for reuse in the absorber. The stripped overhead gas from the regenerator is
concentrated H2S and CO2.