Removal of carbon dioxide using emulsion liquid membrane containing n-methyldiethanolamine and piperazine in rotating disc contactor

Abstract

Removal of carbon dioxide (CO2) becomes necessary in order to save the environment and to prevent problems in chemical process such as corrosion of pipeline and equipment, catalyst poisoning and freezing in the cryogenic equipment. Absorption of carbon dioxide in emulsion containing active extractant becomes an alternative method since the formation of emulsion reduces the corrosion problem. In addition, the droplets of amine provide large surface area for reaction to occur. In this study, the emulsion of liquid membrane that consist of extractant (N-Methyldiethanolamine) and piperazine were used to enhance the CO2 absorption rate. Piperazine was used because it had fast reaction rate with carbon dioxide and high capability or solubility for carbon dioxide absorption. This paper compares different emulsion liquid membrane formulation for CO2 removal using emulsion containing amine (N-Methyldiethanolamine) and piperazine. This study is based on the stability of the emulsion and CO2 absorption performance of the emulsion. The emulsion was prepared at different concentration of extractants. The CO2 absorption was carried in Rotating Disc Contactor (RDC) and Gas Chromatography (GC) was used to determine the amount of CO2 absorbed. From this research, emulsion containing 2 mL N-Methyldiethanolamine and 6 mL piperazine has the highest percentage of stability and CO2 removal.