Modelling the Performance of a CO2 Absorber Containing Structured Packing

A comprehensive mathematical model was developed to simulate the absorption of carbon dioxide (CO2) into aqueous solutions of monoethanolamine (MEA) in a packed column containing Sulzer DX structured packing. Experimental work was conducted to generate absorption data that were used to verify the model. Simulation results showed that the model predicted the performance of the packed column with reasonable accuracy. The average absolute deviation (AAD) of the model was 28%. Nonlinear regression techniques were used during the formulation of the model to develop a new correlation for predicting the effective surface area (Ae) of Sulzer DX structured packing. This work has demonstrated the value of such correlations for simulating the absorption performance of different types of packing. Future work will develop similar Ae correlations for various types of random and structured packing.