Absorption Medium and Method for Absorption of CO2 from a Gas Mixture

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This patent describes an improved absorption medium and method for capturing CO2 from gas mixtures. The innovation involves adding small amounts of specific, non-volatile organic salts—composed of certain quaternary ammonium or phosphonium ions paired with non-hindered amino acid or sulfonic acid anions—to conventional water-amine absorption solutions. This addition greatly increases the speed and efficiency of CO2 absorption while minimizing losses of the additive and improving the thermal stability of the medium.

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• Carbon capture from power plant flue gases to reduce CO2 emissions.
• Purifying natural gas or biogas by removing CO2 before transport or processing.
• Industrial gas treatment, such as separating CO2 from synthesis gas in chemical and petrochemical processes.
• Capturing CO2 from fermentation or wastewater biogas for reuse or sequestration.
• Reducing greenhouse gas emissions in cement, steel, or other heavy industries.

BenefitsContent extracted from patent full text and abstract with AI.

• Significantly faster CO2 absorption compared to conventional methods, enabling more compact and efficient equipment.
• Higher CO2 loading capacity, allowing absorption of larger quantities per volume of medium.
• Low volatility and high thermal stability of the organic salts minimize additive loss and extend operating life.
• Lower energy and material consumption for operation—less makeup chemicals and smaller equipment needed.
• Minimized corrosion of materials, reducing costs associated with maintenance and inhibitor use.
• Improved operational safety due to reduced volatility and toxicity compared to traditional promoters like piperazine.

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Patent Abstract

The absorption of CO2 can be greatly accelerated by the addition to absorption media, which contain water and 20 to 60 % by weight of amine as absorption agents, of 0.01 to 0.1 mol/kg of at least one organic salt of a cation, which has a quaternary nitrogen or phosphorus atom and an anion which has a primary or secondary amino group which is bound to a carbon and is not sterically hindered. Suitable substances for this purpose are new organic salts having a cation selected from 1,3-dialkylimidazolium, 2,3-trialkylimidazolinium, 1-hydroxyethyl-2,3-dialkylimidazolinium, 1-alkylamidoalkyl-1,2,3-dialkylimidazolinium, N,N-dialkylpyrrolidinium, N,N-bis(hydroxyalkyl)pyrrolidinium, N-alkylpyridinium and cations of the structures R4-nN(CH2CH2OH)n + and R4-nN (CH2CH(OH)CH3) n+ with R = alkyl and n representing from 1 to 3, wherein the alkyl groups can be the same or different and in each case have 1 to 6 carbon atoms and for 1,3-dialkylimidazolium together have a maximum of 7 carbon atoms, and an anion of a beta-aminomonocarboxylic acid or a beta-aminosulphonic acid, wherein for cations of the structure R4-nN(CH2CH2OH)n+ the anion is a beta-aminomonocarboxylic acid.