SO2-Resistant Immobilized Amine Sorbents for CO2 Capture

The solid amine sorbent for CO2 capture process has advantages of simplicity and low operating cost compared to the MEA (monoethanolamine) process. Solid amine sorbents reported so far suffered from either low CO2 capture capacity or low stability in the flue gas environment. This project is aimed at developing a SO2-resistant solid amine sorbent for capturing CO2 from coal–fired power plants with SCR/FGD which emits SO2ranging from 15 to 30 ppm and NO ranging from 5 to 10 ppm. The amine sorbent we developed in a previous project degraded rapidly with 65% decrease in the initial capture capacity in presence of 1% SO2. This amine sorbent was further modified by coating with polyethyleneglycol (PEG) to increase the SO2-resistance. Polyethylene glycol (PEG) was found to decrease the SO2-amine interaction, resulting in the decrease in the maximum SO desorption temperature (Tmax ) of amine sorbent. The PEG-coated amine sorbent exhibited higher stability with only 40% decrease in the initial capture capacity compared to un-coated amine sorbents. The cost of the solid amine sorbent developed in this project is estimated to be less than $7.00/lb; the sorbent exhibited CO2 capture capacity more than 2.3 mmol/g. The results of this study provided the scientific basis for further development of SO2-resistant sorbents.