Physical Solubility and Diffusivity of N2O and CO2 in Aqueous Solutions of
Physical Solubility and Diffusivity of N2O and CO2 in Aqueous Solutions of
Physical Solubility and Diffusivity of N2O and CO2 in Aqueous Solutions of
1381
In this work, the physical solubility and diffusivity of N2O in aqueous solutions of piperazine (PZ) and an aqueous
blend of N-methyldiethanolamine (MDEA) and piperazine have been measured over a range of temperatures and
at atmospheric pressure. For the binary mixtures, the mass percents of PZ used are (1.74 to 12) %. For the ternary
mixtures, the total amine strength in the solution has been kept at 30 mass %. The N2O analogy is then used
to estimate the physical solubility and diffusivity of CO2 in aqueous PZ and PZ-blended aqueous MDEA solutions.
The experimental physical solubility and diffusivity data have been correlated as a function of temperature and
concentration of amine and compared with the available data in the literature.
Introduction
Aqueous solutions of alkanolamines are widely used for the
removal of acid gas impurities, such as CO2 and H2S, from
natural gas and industrial gas streams by a regenerative chemical
absorption process. Industrially important alkanolamines for
such absorption processes are monoethanolamine (MEA), diethanolamine (DEA), di-isopropanolamine (DIPA), and Nmethyldiethanolamine (MDEA).1 Although MEA and DEA are
widely used today for total CO2 and H2S removal from sour
natural gas and industrial gas streams, aqueous MDEA is used
very often for selective removal of H2S from gas streams
containing both CO2 and H2S. Recently, blended amine solvents,
which consist of a mixture of a primary or secondary amine
with a tertiary amine to combine the higher equilibrium capacity
of the tertiary amine with the higher reaction rate of the primary
or secondary amine, have been suggested for industrial gastreating processes. The use of blended amines brings about a
significant improvement in absorption capacity and absorption
rate and consequently offers great savings in solvent regeneration
energy requirements. More recently, there is a growing interest
in the use of piperazine (PZ) activated aqueous MDEA for gastreating processes. Being a cyclic symmetric diamine, each mole
of piperazine can theoretically absorb two moles of CO2, and it
may favor rapid formation of the carbamates. The apparent
second-order rate constant of PZ has been found to be an order
higher than that of conventional alkanolamines such as MEA.2
Because PZ is effective in enhancing the rate of CO2 absorption
at a much lower concentration in its blend with MDEA than
the concentration of the primary and secondary amines in the
conventional blended amines (MEA/MDEA or DEA/MDEA),
PZ is better known as an activator or promoter in gas-treating
processes.
For the analysis of the experimental absorption rate and for
the rational design of the gas absorption units and equipment
using alkanolamines, knowledge of the physical properties, for
example, the solubility and diffusivity data of CO2 in aqueous
amine solvents and their blends at various amine concentrations
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. Telephone: 91-322223580(O)/283581(R). Fax: 91-3222-282258. E-mail: ssbandyo@
hijli.iitkgp.ernet.in.
(
(
HCO2-amine ) HN2O-amine
DCO2-amine ) DN2O-amine
HCO2,water
)
)
HN2O,water
DCO2,water
DN2O,water
(1)
(2)
Experimental
Reagent grade piperazine (>99 % pure) and MDEA (>98
% pure) were obtained from E. Merck, FRG, and were used
without further purification. Distilled water degassed by boiling
was used for preparing the amine solutions. The total amine
contents of the solutions were determined by titration against
standard 0.5 molL-1 HCl using a methyl orange indicator. The
1382
HN2O-water
HCO2-water
kPam3kmol-1
kPam3kmol-1
293
298
303
308
313
3530
3932
4497
5120
5535
2619
2949
3358
3850
4264
Table 2. Estimated Solubility of CO2, HCO2, in PZ (2) + Water (3) Using the N2O Analogy
HN2O/kPam3kmol-1
HCO2/kPam3kmol-1
100 w2 T ) 293.0 K T ) 298.0 K T ) 303.0 K T ) 308.0 K T ) 313.0 K T ) 293.0 K T ) 298.0 K T ) 303.0 K T ) 308.0 K T ) 313.0 K
1.74
5.16
12.0
3581
3690
3866
4094
4198
4423
4664
4843
5037
5278
5565
5753
5981
6194
6345
2657
2737
2868
3044
3149
3318
3483
3616
3761
4047
4267
4411
4607
4772
4888
Table 3. Estimated Solubility of CO2, HCO2, in MDEA (1) + PZ (2) + Water (3) Using the N2O Analogy
HN2O/kPam3kmol-1
HCO2/kPam3kmol-1
w1/w2 T ) 293.0 K T ) 298.0 K T ) 303.0 K T ) 308.0 K T ) 313.0 K T ) 293.0 K T ) 298.0 K T ) 303.0 K T ) 308.0 K T ) 313.0 K
28/2
22/8
18/12
3992
3866
4199
4587
4346
4673
5140
4890
5302
5565
5333
5753
6050
5781
6269
2961
2867
3115
3441
3259
3505
3838
3651
3959
4267
4090
4411
4661
4454
4829
Journal of Chemical and Engineering Data, Vol. 52, No. 4, 2007 1383
bi
-2.3910-5
ci
AAD )
1
N
i)1
|Hcalcd,i - Hexptl,i|
DN2O-water109
DCO2-water109
1.32
m2s-1
m2s-1
1.47
298
303
308
313
1.68
1.92
2.26
2.53
1.95
2.20
2.48
2.90
2.4210-4
i ) 1 4.69
i ) 2 1.0510-5 1.8910-4
7.3810-5
i ) 3 4.0510-5 1.6810-5 -5.9610-5
i ) 1 8.05
-3.85
-16.58
(MDEA + PZ + i ) 2 17.52
4.08
-10.38
i ) 3 0.026
-0.175
0.294
H2O)
R
0.969
(PZ + H2O)
AADa/%
100
Hexptl,i
(3)
(4)
The data for the solubility of N2O and the estimated solubility
of CO2 using the N2O analogy in aqueous solutions of PZ and
PZ activated MDEA blends for the temperatures (293, 298, 303,
308, and 313) K are presented in Tables 2 and 3 and shown in
Figures 3 and 4. The experimental solubility data of N2O in
1384
Table 6. Estimated Diffusivity of CO2, DCO2, in PZ (2) + Water (3) Using the N2O Analogy
DN2O109/m2s-1
DCO2109/m2s-1
100 w2
T ) 298.0 K
T ) 303.0 K
T ) 308.0 K
T ) 313.0 K
T ) 298.0 K
T ) 303.0 K
T ) 308.0 K
T ) 313.0 K
1.74
3.45
6.88
1.69
1.58
1.53
1.89
1.80
1.67
2.12
2.03
1.94
2.28
2.18
2.14
1.94
1.81
1.75
2.15
2.05
1.90
2.40
2.30
2.20
2.57
2.46
2.41
Table 7. Estimated Diffusivity of CO2, DCO2, in MDEA (1) + PZ (2) + Water (3) Using the N2O Analogy
DN2O109/m2s-1
DCO2109/m2s-1
w1/w2
T ) 298.0 K
T ) 303.0 K
T ) 308.0 K
T ) 313.0 K
T ) 298.0 K
T ) 303.0 K
T ) 308.0 K
T ) 313.0 K
28/2
25/5
22/8
0.73
0.61
0.54
0.91
0.77
0.65
1.02
0.83
0.75
1.15
0.97
0.84
0.84
0.70
0.62
1.04
0.88
0.74
1.16
0.94
0.85
1.30
1.09
0.95
DN2O109
103
D0.79/T1014
100 w2
m2s-1
mPas
m3PaK-1
298
1.74
3.68
6.88
1.74
3.68
6.88
1.69
1.58
1.53
2.28
2.18
2.14
0.96
1.02
1.17
0.68
0.72
0.82
2.35
2.31
2.49
2.31
2.30
2.51
313
DN2O109
103/
D0.79/T1014
w1/w2
m2s-1
mPas
m3PaK-1
298
28/2
25/5
22/8
28/2
25/5
22/8
0.73
0.61
0.54
1.15
0.97
0.84
3.18
3.34
3.48
1.93
1.97
2.03
2.61
2.28
2.08
2.64
2.27
2.02
313
K2
+ K3T
T
(5)
ai
bi
ci
AAD/%
i ) 1 -23.48
-0.122
-0.054
(PZ + H2O)
i)2
0.21
-7.7210-4 0.109
i)3
3.7810-5 -5.8910-5 4.7710-4
i ) 1 -26.41
-11.10
52.83
i ) 2 -29.81
-15.71
-2.86
(MDEA + PZ +
i)3
2.70
-19.14
33.85
H2O)
R
0.0999
1.34
3.27
(7)
(8)
(6)
where ai, bi, ci, and R are the correlation parameters and w1
and w2 are the mass percent of individual amine.
The calculated parameters and average absolute deviations
(AADs) are listed in Table 4 for the (PZ + H2O) and (MDEA
+ PZ + H2O) systems. The calculated solubilities from eq 5
are in good agreement with the experimental results of this study.
The AAD values between the correlated and experimental data
for (PZ + H2O) and (MDEA + PZ + H2O) systems are about
1.32 % and 1.47 %, respectively. The measured and calculated
solubilities from the correlation (eq 5) are compared in Figures
3 and 4. The solubility data of Sun et al.13 and Derks et al.14
for N2O in aqueous PZ solutions for the temperature range (298
to 313) K show good agreement with the values found using
eq 5, and the average absolute deviations are 3.3 % and 1.0 %,
respectively. As shown in Figures 3 and 4, Henrys constant of
N2O in aqueous PZ increases with an increase in temperature
and increases with the mass percent of PZ in the mixture,
although the effect of PZ mass fraction on N2O solubility in
amines is less pronounced.
) constant
(9)
Journal of Chemical and Engineering Data, Vol. 52, No. 4, 2007 1385
Conclusion
Literature Cited
K2
+ K3T
T
(10)
(11)
Table 10 includes the determined parameters and AADs between the measured and calculated values for both (PZ + H2O)
and (MDEA + PZ + H2O) solutions. The AAD values for (PZ
+ H2O) and (MDEA + PZ + H2O) solutions are 1.34 % and
3.27 %, respectively. The small AADs indicate that the calculated diffusivities from eq 10 are in good agreement with the
experimental results of this study. The measured and calculated
diffusivities from the correlation (eq 10) are also compared in
Figures 7 and 8. The diffusivity data of Sun et al.13 for N2O in
aqueous PZ solutions for the temperature range (303 to 313) K
and for the PZ concentration range between 0.23 and 0.92
kmolm-3 show good agreement with the values calculated using
eq 10, the average absolute deviation being 4.41 %. The data
reported by Sun et al.13 for the estimated CO2 diffusivities in
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Received for review February 11, 2007. Accepted April 11, 2007.
JE700083B