Electrochemically-Mediated Amine Regeneration (EMAR) is a new strategy that allows for near isothermal amine scrubbing of carbon dioxide (CO2). Traditionally, after the absorption of the acid gas using aqueous amines, the CO2 would be desorbed in a stripper heated with low-pressure steam. The EMAR process replaces the stripper with an electrochemical copper cycle that performs the CO2 desorption and subsequent sorbent regeneration. The copper cycle, which utilizes the aggressive complexation of amines with cupric ions, can achieve dramatically better CO2 desorption than a thermal cycle. The quantity of CO2 desorbed from a loaded sorbent solution is 30-40% higher using the EMAR process; furthermore, the CO2 can be released at high pressure, which reduces the downstream compression needs by 50% for sequestration.Modeling results, based on experimentally measured thermodynamic parameters of four different polyamines, indicate that open-circuit efficiencies near 70% are achievable under realistic operating conditions. Kinetic measurements and numerical simulations predict efficiencies of 44% after inclusion of the dynamic inefficiencies in a closed-circuit system. A bench scale apparatus has been fabricated as a proof of concept. The system shows stable performance at 42% Faradaic efficiency for several hours.

Electrochemically-mediated amine regeneration for carbon dioxide scrubbing

246th National Meeting (2013)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.