INTRODUCTION

Carbon dioxide (CO2) and other contaminants contained in the air. CO 2 molecule can
react with water (H2O) molecule to produce carbonic acid which is very corrosive. CO 2 also one
of the main greenhouse gases that emitted into the atmosphere that released by fossil fuel-fired
power plants. It has been a great environmental issue over last a few decades. There are a few
methods can be used to reduces the number of the gases. The mostly used method to remove the
gas is the amine sweetening processes.
There are two processes which are absorption and desorption to regenerate the amine
solvent drive by heat supplied to the reboiler. However, this technic is energy intensive and the
reduce of heat energy for solvent regeneration is a challenge for CO2 capture.
Researchers have investigated the use of amine solvent and other different mix of amines
which will help in the improving energy efficiency and reduce the cost for overall process. Each
of the amines offers distinct advantages to specific treating problems. There are few types of
amine solvent which are:

MEA (Monoethanolamine)

Used in low pressure natural gas treatment applications requiring stringent outlet
gas specifications

MDEA (Methyldiethanolamine)

Has a higher affinity for H2S than CO2 which allows some CO2 slip while
retaining H2S removal capability

DEA (Diethanolamine)

Used in medium to high pressure treating

does not require reclaiming, as do MEA and DGA systems.

FORMULATED (SPECIALTY) SOLVENTS

A variety of blended or specialty solvents are available on the market.

The industrys benchmark for amine solvent is MEA due to its low cost and high reaction rate
with CO2. MEA also have been used for over almost 50 years.
In addition, the choice of solvent has to considered the structural modification of the
process equipment in order to lower energy consumption and to capture more CO 2. In example,
the rotating packed bed absorber/stripper can be implemented to enhance the performance.
However, we need further experiments and studies to confirm the performance and feasibility of
intensified process CO2 capture.
The performance of different configurations can be evaluate by using process simulators
such as ProMax , Aspen Plus, HYSYS and UniSim [19] which can be used to determine energy
efficient solutions (including the identification of the most appropriate operating conditions).
The optimal configurations can be identified by using systematic methodology by
consider simultaneously and evaluate the potential of multiple different modification and
combinations.
This study is to prove that a superstructure with optimization based is possible and
feasible to identify low energy solutions for CO2 capturing using amines. The superstructure
includes three common structural modifications which are absorber intercooling, split-stream/
semi lean solvent and multiple solvent feeding location in the absorber. In addition, the splitting
of flue gases that will allow the improvement in control of temperature and CO 2 absorption rates
through the column. The other aim is to test the impact of flue gas splitting on its own and the
combination with other structural modifications.