Performance Characteristics of CO2 Capture Using Aqueous Ammonia in a Single-Nozzle Spray Tower

Abstract

Spray towers are an effective means of capturing condensable or absorbable gases and vapors, and they have long been used in a variety of applications. However, the use of a spray towers in CO2 capture is a recent development, and the limited number of studies, to date, have reported experimental data only on the capture efficiency for systems with a fixed size, flow rate, and CO2 concentration of the gas mixture, as well as a fixed flow rate and absorbent concentration of the liquid mixture. Systematic investigations of the parameter space have not been reported. In this study, the capture of CO2 from a CO2/air mixture using aqueous ammonia as the absorbent medium with a single nozzle was experimentally measured over a wide range of operating conditions. Relationships between the capture efficiency and the operating parameters are reported for the first time. We also report the experimental observation of the optimum tower diameter for a given spray nozzle.