One of the best apparatus to study the kinetics of reaction between gas and liquid in the field of gas absorption is a Laminar Jet Absorber. This is because the interfacial area is known accurately and the physical absorption rates have been shown to agree with the penetration theory predictions. In this type of experiment, pilule the operating variables, which include temperature, pressure, contact-time and composition, are fixed at a predetermined value. Then the value of the absorption rate of gas into liquid is measured. By repeating the experiments over a range of operating variables, the function dependency of the absorption rate is determined. By analyzing the dependency of the absorption rate on the operating conditions, the reaction mechanism, reaction-rate constants, and reaction-order can be understood. For example, the laminar jet absorber and our numerical absorption-rate/kinetics model was used to investigate the kinetics of CO2 into highly concentrated and loaded MEA solutions. This study introduced a new termolecular-kinetics model, which proved to be better than the previous published kinetics models for the CO2 reactions with MEA solutions.
Current research activities are as follows:
- obtaining reliable data on the absorption rate of CO2 into mixed amines under the condition of no interfacial turbulence and
- interpreting the experimental data with the aid of the developed numerically solved absorption-rate/kinetics model that takes into consideration all the possible reversible reactions of the absorption system.
The actual physical and chemical properties of the system as a function of temperature, concentration, and loading will be used in the interpretation of the absorption data.