Part 5c: Solvent chemistry: Solubility of CO 2 in reactive solvents for post-combustion CO 2

Abstract

Concerns about climate change have propelled research efforts to develop affordable and environmentally benign technologies to capture CO 2 from large emission sources, which can subsequently be used either for enhanced oil recovery or stored in other geological storage sites. The study of the solubility of CO 2 in solvents is therefore of great interest, both from the theoretical and practical points of view. To screen solvents or to design CO 2 capture processes, knowledge of the equilibrium solubility of CO 2 in the solvents is necessary. A large body of solubility data of CO 2 in aqueous and non-aqueous solutions of prominent industrial amines are available in literature. We present such data along with a description of the experimental techniques and thermodynamic models used. Innovations made to obtain an optimum solubility of CO 2 and to minimize the energy cost of a desired CO 2 capture system by adopting different kinds of solvents are also reviewed. © 2012 Future Science Ltd.