Aqueous Ammonia (NH3) Based Post Combustion CO2 Capture: A Review

Abstract

Aqueous ammonia (NH3) is an emerging, promising and challenging solvent for capture of CO2 emitted from coal and gas fired power stations and other industrial sources. Over the last few years, intensive research activities have been carried out to understand the thermo-chemical and physical properties of the CO2-NH3-H2O system and the chemistry/kinetics involved, to obtain information on absorption rate, ammonia loss, regeneration energies, and practical issues, and to assess the technical and economical feasibility of the aqueous ammonia based post combustion capture technologies. This paper reviews these research activities, makes comparisons with MonoEthanolAmine (MEA, the benchmark solvent) and identifies the research opportunities for further improvements.