Professor Chungbuk National University, Ch'ungch'ong-bukto, Republic of Korea
Abstract Description: Greenhous gas emissions are a critical global issue, and efforts to reduce them are ongoing. Among the various techniques, amine-based wet absorption is one of the most widely studied. However, the amine absorbents can release hazardous materials such as ammonia (NH3) and aldehydes, into the atmosphere due to thermal and oxidative degradation. And they can damage both the environment and human health. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the characteristics of degradation products generated during the absorption and regeneration processes using amine absorbents. This study established a laboratory-scale CO2 absorption-desorption process to investigate NH3 and aldehydes emissions through repeated experiments. An alkanolamine solution was used as the absorbent, and simulated flue gases from coal-fired power plants were used. The NH3 emission concentrations were continuously measured in real-time using a gas analyzer. The aldehydes emissions was analyzed by HPLC-UV according to Carb Method 430 and US EPA Method 0011. The results showed that NH3 emissions were high at first and decreased over time during the absorption process. During the regeneration process, the emissions were consistently low. The aldehydes emission concentrations during the desorption were higher than those during the absorption, due to high temperature. Overall, considering the emission limits set by the Air Quality Conservation Act of Korea, both NH3 and aldehydes are not expected to exceed critical levels.
