Vaporization reduction characteristics of aqueous ammonia solutions by the addition of ethylene glycol, glycerol and glycine to the CO2 absorption process.

Aqueous ammonia (NH3) solution can be used as an alternative absorption for the control of CO2 emitted from flue gases due to its high absorption capacity, fast absorption rate and low corrosion problem. The emission of CO2 from iron and steel plants requires much attention, as they are higher than those emitted from power plants at a single point source. In the present work, low concentration ammonia liquor, 9 wt.%, was used with various additives to obtain the kinetic properties using the blast furnace gas model. Although a solution with a high ammonia concentration enables high CO2 absorption efficiency, ammonium ions are lost as ammonia vapor, resulting in reduced CO2 absorption due to the lower concentration of the ammonia absorbent. To decrease the vaporization of ammonia, ethylene glycol, glycerol and glycine, which contain more than one hydroxyl radical, were chosen. The experiments were conducted at 313 K similar to the CO2 absorption conditions for the blast furnace gas model.