Enhanced CO2 absorption in wetted-wire columns using nanoparticles and ionic liquids: A CFD study

Abstract

High CO2 emissions from chemical and petrochemical industries are among the rapidly increasing contributions to climate change and environmental pollution. Traditional packed columns, widely used for gas absorption with amine solutions, offer high specific surface areas but suffer from significant pressure drops. wetted-wire column is an emerging technique which is more efficient in compare to the packed columns because of the lower pressure drops and higher mass transfer rates it exhibits. In this new work, the possibility of using a novel type of solvent in the wetted-wire column will be considered regarding its potential for CO2 absorption with aqueous MEA solutions enhanced with nanoparticles and ionic liquids. This study uses the Level Set method to model the gas–liquid interface and provides insights into hydrodynamic behavior and mass transfer phenomena and also the impact of the formation of a liquid bead on mass transfer efficiency. Computational fluid dynamics simulations validated by experimental data for absorption efficiency and rate was confirmed with high R-squared values of 0.998 and 0.986, respectively. The addition of both Nanoparticles (NPs) and Ionic Liquids (ILs) is found to significantly improve CO2 absorption, it is shown that the SiO2 particles offer the best effectiveness of enhancement for absorption efficiency and absorption rate up to 23%; this could be promising for the use of energy-saving CO2 capture in industrial applications.