• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.31 no.7
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• pp.505-514
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• 2009

Aqueous potassium salt of serine was proposed as an alternative $CO_2$ absorbent to monoethanolamine (MEA) and its $CO_2$ absorption characteristics were studied. The experiment has been conducted using screening test equipment with NDIR type gas analyzer and vapor-liquid equilibrium apparatus. $CO_2$ absorption/desorption rate and net amount of $CO_2$ absorbed in cyclic process are the criteria to assess the $CO_2$ absorption characteristics in this study. Effective $CO_2$ loading of potassium salt of serine and MEA are 0.425 and 0.230 respectively. Cyclic capacities are 0.354 and 0.298 for potassium salt of serine and MEA. The absorption rate of the potassium serinate decreased sharply at $CO_2$ loading is 0.1 and were maintained approximately at half of MEA. To enhance the absorption rate of aqueous potassium salt of serine, small quantities of rate promoters, namely piperazine and tetraethylenepentamine were blended, so that rich $CO_2$ loading were increased by 13.7% and 18.7% respectively. The rich $CO_2$ loading of potassium salt of serine was 29.2% and 35.0% higher than those of aqueous sodium and lithium salt of serine, respectively. The absorption rate of potassium salt of valine and isoleucine which have similar molecular structures to serine were lower than that of serine because of the presence of bulky side group. Precipitation phenomena during $CO_2$ absorption were discussed by the aid of literatures.