An increasing level of greenhouse gas CO2 in the atmosphere contributes to a potential negative impact on the environment and thus has been the subject of widespread attention over. A limited number of amines are available for CO2 capture research after balancing the capital cost and energy penalty for amine-based solutions for CO2 capture in power plants. One potential route to improve the absorber is by replacing conventional steel packing with custom designed packing made from 3D printed polymers. 3D printing offers endless flexibility in packing designs to better enhance liquid/gas contact, increase CO2 mass transfer and create more efficient absorber columns. Before exploring novel packing designs, it was necessary to identify polymer materials that can be 3D printed while also showing long-term physical and surface property stability upon exposure to corrosive amine solutions. Four polymers that are commonly used for 3D printing were evaluated for physical and surface stability during long-term exposure to a corrosive CO2-loaded amine solution at temperatures typically observed in the absorber column. Three polymers, HDPS, ABS, and Nylon were found to be physically stable after 3000 hr of amine exposure at temperatures up to 60 C. The contact angle (wetting) of the polymer surfaces was also stable after exposure to the CO2-loaded amine solution. Based on these studies a novel dynamic polarity structured packing (DP packing) with alternate patterns of surface polarity has been developed. These packing could enhance local macro-scale turbulence within the advanced viscous solvent to reduce the mass transfer diffusion resistance. Three DP structured packings that incorporate multiple polymeric materials were fabricated using 3D- printing technique and evaluated through parametric testing using a bench-scale integrated CO2 capture unit. At optimized operating conditions, the DP packing showed a relatively more than 20% increase in absorption and 20% decrease in energy penalty.

Increasing CO2 capture absorption using 3D- printed dynamic polarity packing in a bench-scale integrated CO2 capture system

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ACS Fall 2022

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