Methyldiethanolamine and piperazine as extractant in emulsion liquid membrane for carbon dioxide removal

Abstract

Emulsion liquid membrane was formulated using MDEA and piperazine as extractant in sodium hydroxide solution. Span-80 in the organic solution acts as surfactant to stabilize the formation emulsion. The effects of MDEA/PZ ratio on emulsion stability and CO2 absorption were investigated. CO2 absorption was carried out in rotating disc contactor (RDC) column and gas chromatography (GC) was used to determine the amount of CO2 leaving the column. This study showed that 8% v/v Span-80 has produced a stable emulsion. The emulsion was able to remove 60.3% of CO2. In the presence of methane (CH4), 54.1% of CO2 and 13.2% of CH4 were removed from CH4/CO2 mixtures. The finding demonstrates the promising technique of ELM for CO2 removal.