Energy 113 (2016) 1e8

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Energy
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Absorption performance of CO2 in high concentrated

[Bmim][Lys]-MDEA aqueous solution
Dong Fu*, Pan Zhang, LeMeng Wang
School of Environmental Science and Engineering, North China Electric Power University, Baoding, 071003, People's Republic of China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The absorption performance of CO2 in 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium lysinate ([Bmim][Lys]) promoted N-
Received 16 April 2016 methyldiethanolamine (MDEA) aqueous solution was investigated at the temperatures ranging from
Received in revised form 303.2 K to 323.2 K. The mass fractions of MDEA and [Bmim][Lys] respectively ranged from 0.3 to 0.45 and
8 June 2016
0.05 to 0.15. The viscosities of CO2-unloaded and CO2-loaded MDEA-[Bmim][Lys] aqueous solutions were
Accepted 9 July 2016
measured and modeled. The influences of temperature and concentration on the absorption capacity of
CO2 were determined. The effects of temperature, solution concentration and solution viscosity on the
absorption rate were illustrated.
Keywords:
Absorption performance
© 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Viscosity
CO2
[Bmim][Lys]
MDEA

1. Introduction
In the past decades, atmospheric level of CO2 has increased
rapidly due to the utilization of great amount of fossil fuel and the
reduction of CO2 has become a global issue [1e3]. Many technol-
ogies have been proposed to capture CO2, among which the
chemical absorption is considered to be the most effective
approach because CO2 can be satisfactorily removed and the ab-
sorbents can be well regenerated [4e9]. Traditional alkanolamines
including monoethanolamine (MEA), diethanolamine (DEA), di-
isopropanolamine (DIPA) and N-methyldiethanolamine (MDEA)
have been widely used in CO2 capture process. However, due to the
disadvantages of traditional alkanolamines, new absorbents with
low corrosivity, low energy cost in regeneration, high absorption
capacity and high reaction rate are urgently required [10e12]. For
example, application of the blends of MDEA with primary, sec-
ondary or sterically hindered amines in CO2 capture process
attracted great attentions in recent years. It is well known that
MDEA takes the advantages of high resistance to thermal and
chemical degradation, and low corrosivity [13]. Moreover, its hy-
droxyl group serves to reduce the vapor pressure thus increases the
water solubility [14]. However, the absorption of CO2 in MDEA
aqueous solution is quite slow because MDEA appears to act only as
* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: fudong@tsinghua.org.cn (D. Fu).
a weak base to produce free OH
which reacts with CO2 [15].
Addition of activators like MEA, DEA, N-methylpyrrolidone (NMP)
or 2-amino-2-methly-1-propanol (AMP) into MDEA aqueous so-
lution can overcome these drawbacks because the blended amines
preserve high rate of the reaction of activators with CO2 and the low
enthalpy of the reaction of MDEA with CO2 [16,17].
Besides alkanolamines, the functionalized ionic liquids (FILs) are
also considered to be good absorbents or activators for the removal
of CO2 due to their unique characteristics like thermal stability,
negligible vapor pressure, tunable physicochemical character and
high CO2 solubility [18e22]. In the past few years, different types of
FILs have been used to absorb CO2 and showed good potential in
CO2 capture process [23e26]. However, solutions of single FIL are
limited to industrial applications because they have high viscosities
and their viscosities may increase dramatically under carbonation
[27]. By far, there are many studies concerning the absorption of
CO2 in both FILs aqueous solutions and their blends with amines
[28e41]. Investigations showed that the blends of FILs and amines
take the advantages of large absorption capacity and high absorp-
tion rate when applied to CO2 capture [30,33e41].
Among the FILs, the amino acid ionic liquid (AAIL) is miscible
with organic solvents and is able to dissolve native amino acids
[42]. It is composed of one cation and one amino-acid anion. The
cation may be groups like tetramethylammonium ([N1111]), tet-
raethylammonium ([N2222]), 1-hexyl-3-methylimidazolium
([Hmim]), 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium ([C2mim]) and 1-butyl-3-

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2016.07.049
0360-5442/© 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
2 D. Fu et al. / Energy 113 (2016) 1e8

methylimidazolium ([Bmim]). The amino acid anion includes gly- The sample description is shown in Table 1. CO2 (purity in mole
cinate ([Gly]), lysinate ([Lys]), alanate([ALA]), valinate ([VAL]) and fraction>99.99%) was purchased from the Jinglian Gas Supply Inc.
so on. Sistla et al. [43] synthesized several AAILs and examined their Aqueous solutions were prepared by adding the high purity water
performance for CO2 absorption, indicating that the amine func- (Electrical resistivity >15 MU cm at 298 K) made from the Heal
tional groups in the amino acid anion-based ILs are reactive and Force ROE (Reverse Osmosis Electrodeionization)-100 apparatus.
accessible for CO2. The molecular structure and the number of the
amine functional groups significantly affect the absorption capac-
2.2. Apparatus and procedure
ity, thus a proper choice of amino-acid anion with an appropriate
cation is very important for the development of new AAILs.
The absorption of CO2 was measured by the equipment
As AAIL is of high viscosity, it is impossible to directly use its
composed of one high-pressure CO2 tank, one mass flow controller
aqueous solution as absorbent. An appropriate way is to add certain
(MFC), one mass flow meter (MFM), one absorption bottle, one
amount of AAIL to aqueous solution of traditional amines like
constant temperature water bath, one desiccator and one CO2
MDEA [33e36,42e50]. For example, for the blends of MDEA and
analyzer (Advanced Gasmitter by Germany Sensors Europe GmbH,
AAILs with cations of [N1111] and [N2222] (e.g., [N1111][Gly], [N2222]
the accuracy is ±2%). The schematic diagram of the experiment is
[Gly], [N1111][Lys] and [N2222][Lys]), good absorption performance
shown in Fig. 1. The absorption bottle was immersed into the
has been verified, and the influences of solution concentration,
thermostatic bath and the temperature of the solution can be
viscosity, temperature and pressure on absorption capacity and
regulated within 0.1 K. The rotational speed of the magnetic stirrer
absorption rate of CO2 have been illustrated [33e36]. Moreover, the
was fixed at 1000 rpm.
blends of MDEA and AAILs with cations of [Bmim] (e.g., [Bmim]
During the experiment, CO2 (volume concentration C0 > 0.9999)
[Gly] and [Bmim][Lys]) also show good absorption performance for
from the high-pressure tank was inlet into the MFC to maintain a
CO2. In particular, in our previous work [50], we presented the
constant flow rate (v0 ¼ 100 ml/min) and then into the absorption
absorption capacity, viscosity and absorption rate for CO2 absorp-
bottle and absorbed by the solution. The residual and unabsorbed
tion in [Bmim][Gly]-MDEA aqueous solutions, and approximately
gas firstly flowed into the desiccator, and then into CO2 analyzer
identified the ranges of mass fractions under which high absorption
and finally into the MFM. The volume concentration of CO2 (Ci) was
rate, large absorption capacity and appropriate viscosity can be
measured by the CO2 analyzer, and the flow rate (vi) was measured
simultaneously achieved. However, the relationship between the
by the MFM. Ci, vi and the corresponding time ti were simulta-
absorption rate and the solution properties like concentration and
neously recorded by the computer (interval time Dt ¼ 1s). The
viscosity has not been well illustrated. Besides [Bmim][Gly],
absorption was terminated when there is almost no change in vi
[Bmim][Lys] has two primary amine functional groups, thus pro-
during 100 s. The mass of the absorbed CO2 can be calculated from
vides a fair chance for CO2 to react with any one of the two amine
273.15  44/22.4  [v0C0t/T0
SviCiDt/T1], in which t is the total
sites. The amine groups in [Bmim][Lys] are present in polar and
absorption time, T0 and T1 are respectively the temperatures of CO2
basic side chains, thus the acid-base interaction between CO2 and
flowing out the MFC and desiccator.
[Bmim][Lys] is expected to be strong [43]. Moreover, it has low
To verify the reliability of the equipment, CO2 loading in MEA
vapor pressure, high solubility in water and no toxicity [51], good
aqueous solution (30 wt %, 0.1 MPa, 313.2 K, a ¼ 0.58) was
regenerability and superior CO2 capture capacity [43]. Due to the
measured and compared with those from the work of Lee et al.
aforementioned advantages, [Bmim][Lys]-MDEA aqueous solution
(a ¼ 0.60) [52] and Shen et al. (a ¼ 0.59) [53]. Comparison shows
has considerable potential for CO2 capture. Before its application in
our result is close to those from Lee et al. [52] and Shen et al. [53].
industry, it is necessary to examine its absorption performance for
The carbonated aqueous solutions with different CO2 loadings
CO2 and provide some basic data. Although the absorption perfor-
were prepared according to the methods mentioned in the work of
mance of CO2 in [Bmim][Lys] liquids under series of pressures and
Weiland et al. [54], Amundsen et al. [55] and Fu et al. [50,56e58].
the effects of pressure on absorption capacity has been docu-
The viscosities of the carbonated aqueous solutions were measured
mented [43], studies concerning the absorption of CO2 in aqueous
by using the NDJ-5S digital rotational viscometer produced by the
solutions of [Bmim][Lys]-amine blends are rare. The absorption
Shanghai Changji Geological Instrument factory. The measurement
capacity and absorption rate of CO2 in [Bmim][Lys] promoted MDEA
ranges and measurement error are respectively (0.1 to 105) mPa$s
aqueous solutions are unavailable. Moreover, the solution viscosity
and ±1% (for a Newtonian fluid). The uncertainty of the tempera-
that is necessary for the design and simulation of the absorption
ture is ±0.1 K.
tower has rarely been reported, and the competitive effects of so-
lution concentration and solution viscosity on the absorption of CO2
are still unknown so far. 3. Results and discussion
The main purpose of this work is to determine the effects of
temperature, solution concentration and solution viscosity on the 3.1. Viscosity and model
absorption performance of CO2 in [Bmim][Lys] promoted MDEA
aqueous solution. To this end, absorption capacity and absorption The viscosities of CO2-unloaded and CO2-loaded MDEA-[Bmim]
rate of CO2 in MDEA-[Bmim][Lys] aqueous solution were measured [Lys] aqueous solutions are shown in Tables 2e6. The viscosities of
under different temperatures and different solution compositions. MDEA aqueous solutions measured in this work well match those
The viscosities of both CO2-unloaded and CO2-loaded MDEA- reported in the work of Mandal et al. [59], Teng et al. [60] and
[Bmim][Lys] aqueous solution were measured and then modeled. Bernal-García et al. [61], indicating NDJ-5S digital rotational
The competitive effect of solution concentration and solution vis-
Table 1
cosity on absorption rate was analyzed.
Sample description.

2. Experimental Substance Source Puritya CAS no.

MDEA Macklin Reagent w  0.98 105-59-9

2.1. Materials [Bmim][Lys] Shanghai Cheng Jie w  0.99 1084610-48-9
Chemical Co., Ltd
a
MDEA and [Bmim][Lys] were used without further purification. Stated by the supplier; w denotes mass fraction.
 D. Fu et al. / Energy 113 (2016) 1e8 3

Fig. 1. Schematic diagram for experiments.

viscometer is reliable for viscosity measurement. f(a,w) refers to the contribution of CO2 loading:
Besides experiments, the Weiland equation [54] was used to fit
the viscosities of carbonated MDEA-[Bmim][Lys] aqueous f ða; wÞ ¼ aðei w þ fi T þ gi Þ þ 1 (3)
solutions:
where ai, bi, ci, di, ei, fi, gi are adjustable parameters.
w½Bmim½Lys wMDEA In the case of CO2 unloaded, the parameters a1 ¼
0.1944,
hmix ¼ h þ h (1) b1 ¼ 0.4315, c1 ¼ 80.684 and d1 ¼ 2889.1 were directly taken from
w½Bmim½Lys þ wMDEA 1 w½Bmim½Lys þ wMDEA 2
Ref. [56] for MDEA. Those for [Bmim][Lys] were regressed by fitting
where hmix is the viscosity of the carbonated aqueous solution, and to the experiments presented in this work. The objective function is
w[Bmim][Lys] and wMDEA respectively stand for the mass fractions of expressed as:
MDEA and [Bmim][Lys], h1 and h2 are respectively the viscosities of n h . i .
X
[Bmim][Lys] aqueous solution and MDEA aqueous solution, which fs ¼ 1
hcal hexp  100% n (4)
can be expressed as: i¼1


½ðai w þ bi ÞT þ ðci w þ di Þw where the superscripts ‘exp’ and ‘cal’ respectively stand for the
hi =hwater ¼ exp  f ða ; wÞ (2)
T2 experimental and calculated data, and n is the number of data. The
optimized values are a2 ¼ 0.026, b2 ¼ 12.2809, c2 ¼
0.01853 and
where hwater is the viscosity of pure water, and w ¼ w[Bmim] d2 ¼
0.03680. The average relative deviation is 7.25%.
[Lys]þwMDEAis the total mass fraction of MDEA and [Bmim][Lys]. Fig. 2 shows the effects of solution composition and

Table 2
Viscosities of CO2-unloaded MDEA-[Bmim][Lys] aqueous solutions.

wMDEA w[Bmim][Lys] h/(mPa_s)

303.2 K 313.2 K 323.2 K

0.3001 0.0000 2.65/2.68 [59] 1.90/1.92 [59]/1.94 [61] 1.54/1.49 [59]

0.0499 4.43 3.25 2.54
0.1001 5.23 3.36 2.62
0.1499 6.69 5.03 3.85
0.3501 0.0000 3.36 2.56 2.02
0.0501 4.88 3.62 2.74
0.1001 5.95 4.34 3.27
0.1501 8.36 5.82 4.48
0.4001 0.0000 4.41 3.02/2.995 [60]/3.115 [61] 2.65
0.0501 6.43 4.79 3.70
0.0999 8.06 5.53 4.32
0.1501 11.65 7.72 5.33
0.4501 0.0000 6.10 4.37 3.63
0.0501 8.41 5.85 4.45
0.1001 10.90 7.14 5.09
0.1499 15.10 9.74 6.81

Standard uncertainties u are u(T) ¼ 0.1 K; u(w) ¼ ±0.0001; u(p) ¼ 5 kPa; u(h) ¼ 0.03 mPa,s(h&10 mPa s); u(h) ¼ 0.10 mPa,s(10 mPa s<h&20 mPa s).
4 D. Fu et al. / Energy 113 (2016) 1e8

Table 3 Table 6
Viscosities of CO2-loaded MDEA-[Bmim][Lys] aqueous solutions. wMDEA ¼ 0.30. Viscosities of CO2-loaded MDEA-[Bmim][Lys] aqueous solutions. wMDEA ¼ 0.45.

wMDEA/w[Bmim][Lys] a h/(mPa s) wMDEA/w[Bmim][Lys] a h/(mPa,s)

303.2 K 313.2 K 323.2 K 303.2 K 313.2 K 323.2 K

0.3001/0.0499 0.10 4.58 3.68 2.89 0.4501/0.0499 0.10 8.84 6.05 4.60
0.20 4.72 3.80 2.99 0.20 9.70 7.02 4.90
0.30 4.76 3.86 3.12 0.30 10.80 7.30 5.36
0.40 4.83 4.00 3.23 0.40 11.55 7.74 5.80
0.50 4.98 4.21 3.41 0.50 12.90 8.15 6.28
0.3000/0.1001 0.10 5.30 3.41 2.78 0.4501/0.1001 0.10 12.60 8.43 6.02
0.20 5.78 3.84 2.95 0.20 14.00 9.03 6.40
0.30 6.16 4.26 3.05 0.30 16.15 11.30 7.63
0.40 6.45 4.84 3.78 0.40 17.15 12.35 8.15
0.50 6.71 4.98 3.89 0.50 19.00 13.40 9.18
0.3001/0.1499 0.10 7.06 5.54 4.21 0.4499/0.1499 0.10 17.90 11.70 7.91
0.20 7.81 6.01 4.60 0.20 21.15 13.00 9.43
0.30 8.60 6.58 5.07 0.30 23.30 15.40 10.80
0.40 9.07 7.08 5.30 0.40 27.40 18.55 12.25
0.50 10.68 8.04 6.40 0.50 30.80 20.60 14.70

Standard uncertainties u are u(T) ¼ 0.1 K; u(w) ¼ ±0.0001; u(p) ¼ 5 kPa; Standard uncertainties u are u(T) ¼ 0.1 K; u(w) ¼ ±0.0001; u(p) ¼ 5 kPa;
u(h) ¼ 0.07 mPa,s(h&10 mPa s); u(h) ¼ 0.10 mPa,s(10 mPa s<h&20 mPa s). u(h) ¼ 0.13 mPa,s(h&10 mPa s); u(h) ¼ 0.17 mPa,s(10 mPa s<h&20 mPa s).

temperature on the viscosities of CO2-unloaded MDEA-[Bmim][Lys]

Table 4 aqueous solutions. As expected, the viscosity increases with
Viscosities of CO2-loaded MDEA-[Bmim][Lys] aqueous solutions. wMDEA ¼ 0.35. increasing w[Bmim][Lys] at given temperature and given wMDEA, and
wMDEA/w[Bmim][Lys] a h/(mPa,s) exponentially decreases with the increase of temperature at given
solution composition.
303.2 K 313.2 K 323.2 K
For CO2-loaded MDEA-[Bmim][Lys] aqueous solutions,
0.3501/0.0499 0.10 5.28 3.85 2.96 e1 ¼ 0.0106, f1 ¼ 0 and g1 ¼ 80.684 were directly taken from Ref. [54]
0.20 5.35 3.92 3.02
0.30 5.40 4.00 3.12
for MDEA, and those for [Bmim][Lys] were regressed by fitting to
0.40 5.55 4.10 3.20 the viscosities of CO2-loaded MDEA-[Bmim][Lys] aqueous solu-
0.50 5.72 4.20 3.26 tions. The optimized values are e2 ¼ 0.01281, f2 ¼
0.00837 and
0.3499/0.1001 0.10 6.71 4.80 3.63 g2 ¼ 2.4434. The average relative deviation for CO2-loaded aqueous
0.20 7.12 5.07 3.84
solutions is 6.86%.
0.30 7.54 5.39 4.10
0.40 8.17 5.88 4.45 Fig. 3 shows the effects of CO2 loading and temperature on the
0.50 8.58 6.22 4.66 viscosity of carbonated MDEA-[Bmim][Lys] aqueous solutions,
0.3501/0.1499 0.10 9.80 7.02 5.22 indicating the viscosity increases with the increase of CO2 loading
0.20 10.85 7.35 5.39 at given temperature and given solution composition, and at given
0.30 11.75 7.89 5.82
0.40 12.80 8.57 6.34
CO2 loading and given solution composition, the viscosity expo-
0.50 13.20 9.66 7.15 nentially decreases with increasing temperature.
Standard uncertainties u are u(T) ¼ 0.1 K; u(w) ¼ ±0.0001; u(p) ¼ 5 kPa;
u(h) ¼ 0.07 mPa,s(h&10 mPa s); u(h) ¼ 0.10 mPa,s(10 mPa s<h&20 mPa s). 3.2. CO2 absorption performance

The absorption of CO2 in MDEA-[Bmim][Lys] aqueous solutions

was measured at temperatures ranging from 303.2 K to 323.2 K. The
Table 5 absorption capacities including the mass of the absorbed CO2 (m)
Viscosities of CO2-loaded MDEA-[Bmim][Lys] aqueous solutions. wMDEA ¼ 0.40. and CO2 loading (a) are presented in Table 7, indicating that the
wMDEA/w[Bmim][Lys] a h/(mPa,s) absorption capacity decreases with increasing temperature at given
solution composition. Moreover, the absorption capacity increases
303.2 K 313.2 K 323.2 K
with the increase of w[Bmim][Lys] at given temperature and given
0.3999/0.0501 0.10 7.98 5.49 4.06
wMDEA, indicating [Bmim][Lys] can not only act as a promoter but
0.20 8.17 5.79 4.31
0.30 8.30 5.96 4.50
also absorb a certain amount of CO2.
0.40 8.89 6.53 5.04 Fig. 4 shows the influence of w[Bmim][Lys] on the absorption rate
0.50 9.38 7.21 5.37 of CO2 in MDEA-[Bmim][Lys] aqueous solutions at 303.2 K and
0.4001/0.1001 0.10 9.60 6.66 4.90 wMDEA ¼ 0.30 and 0.40. One finds that without [Bmim][Lys], CO2 is
0.20 11.00 7.66 5.14
slowly absorbed in MDEA aqueous solution. The addition of small
0.30 11.65 7.90 5.98
0.40 12.00 8.54 6.36 amount of [Bmim][Lys] into MDEA aqueous solution leads to an
0.50 13.30 9.37 6.73 obvious increase in the absorption rate of CO2. However, the ab-
0.4001/0.1501 0.10 12.70 8.26 5.92 sorption rate increases not so significantly when w[Bmim][Lys] is of
0.20 13.85 9.50 6.53
high value, in particular, the absorption rate corresponding to
0.30 15.50 10.70 7.30
0.40 17.80 12.10 8.35
wMDEA/w[Bmim][Lys] ¼ 0.40/0.15 is very close to that corresponding to
0.50 20.40 13.65 9.50 wMDEA/w[Bmim][Lys] ¼ 0.40/0.10.
Fig. 5 shows the influence of the temperature on the absorption
Standard uncertainties u are u(T) ¼ 0.1 K; u(w) ¼ ±0.0001; u(p) ¼ 5 kPa;
u(h) ¼ 0.11 mPa,s(h&10 mPa s); u(h) ¼ 0.14 mPa,s(10 mPa s<h&20 mPa s). rate of CO2. The absorption rate increases with increasing temper-
ature when the temeratures ranged from 303.2 K to 313.2 K.
However, the absorption rate at 323.2 K is very close to that at
 D. Fu et al. / Energy 113 (2016) 1e8 5

Table 7
Absorption capacity in MDEA-[Bmim][Lys] aqueous solutions.

wMDEA w[Bmim][Lys] m/(gCO2/100 g a/(molCO2/

aqueous solution) {mol MDEA þ mol
[Bmim][Lys]})

303.2 K 313.2 K 323.2 K 303.2 K 313.2 K 323.2 K

0.3000 0.0000 8.06 7.57 7.16 0.73 0.68 0.65

0.0499 8.99 8.06 7.20 0.74 0.67 0.59
0.1001 9.27 8.45 7.33 0.73 0.66 0.55
0.1501 9.82 8.49 7.47 0.71 0.63 0.53
0.4001 0.0000 9.36 8.68 8.11 0.64 0.59 0.55
0.0501 9.58 9.75 8.24 0.61 0.60 0.48
0.1001 10.11 9.96 8.30 0.60 0.59 0.48
0.1499 10.17 10.07 8.48 0.59 0.55 0.46

Standard uncertainties u are u(T) ¼ 0.1 K; u(w) ¼ ±0.0001; u(p) ¼ 5 kPa; u(a) ¼ 0.03
molCO2/{mol MDEA þ mol [Bmim][Lys]}, u(m) ¼ 0.30 gCO2/100 g aqueous solution.

Fig. 2. Effects of w[Bmim][Lys] and temperature (insert) on the viscosity of MDEA-[Bmim]

[Lys] aqueous solutions. Main plot: wMDEA ¼ 0.45, CT ¼ 303.2 K; B T ¼ 313.2 K; -
T ¼ 323.2 K. Insert plot: wMDEA ¼ 0.35, Cw[Bmim][Lys] ¼ 0.05; Bw[Bmim][Lys] ¼ 0.10,
-w[Bmim][Lys] ¼ 0.15. Symbols: experimental data from this work. Lines: calculated
values.

Fig. 4. Effect of mass fraction of [Bmim][Lys] (w[Bmim][Lys]) on the absorption rate of

CO2 in MDEA-[Bmim][Lys] aqueous solutions. T ¼ 303.2 K. Main plot, symbols: ex-
periments in this work -wMDEA/w[Bmim][Lys] ¼ 0.40/0.00; CwMDEA/w[Bmim][Lys] ¼ 0.40/
0.05; BwMDEA/w[Bmim][Lys] ¼ 0.40/0.10;,wMDEA/w[Bmim][Lys] ¼ 0.40/0.15. Insert plot,
symbols: -wMDEA/w[Bmim][Lys] ¼ 0.30/0.00; CwMDEA/w[Bmim][Lys] ¼ 0.30/0.05;
BwMDEA/w[Bmim][Lys] ¼ 0.30/0.10; ,wMDEA/w[Bmim][Lys] ¼ 0.30/0.15. Lines: trend lines.

313.2 K. It seems that the temperature affects the absorption rate

Fig. 3. Effects of CO2 loading and temperature (insert) on the viscosity of carbonated
MDEA-[Bmim][Lys] aqueous solutions. Main plot: w[Bmim][Lys]/wMDEA ¼ 0.15/0.40,
CT ¼ 303.2 K; B T ¼ 313.2 K; - T ¼ 323.2 K. Insert plot: w[Bmim][Lys]/wMDEA ¼ 0.10/
0.30, Ca ¼ 0.0; Ba ¼ 0.2; -a ¼ 0.4. Symbols: experimental data from this work,
Lines: calculated values.
not so significantly as compared to solution concentration. Similar
phenomenon is presented in the work of Zhou et al. [62], Zhang
et al. [33] and Jing et al. [48].
To quantitatively show the effect of temperature and solution
concentration on the absorption rates of CO2 in MDEA-[Bmim][Lys]
aqueous solutions, we followed Chowdhury et al. [63] and calcu-
lated the absorption rate from 0.5 m/t0.5 (t0.5 is the absorption time
at which 50% of the absorption capacity is achieved). The absorp-
tion rates (R, g CO2/100 g aqueous solution/min) under different
conditions are shown in Table 8. One may find from this table that
from 313.2 K to 323.2 K, the temperature has little effects on the
absorption rate at given solution composition. However, the solu-
tion concentration significantly influences the absorption rate, e.g.,
the absorption rate of CO2 increases with the increase of w[Bmim][Lys]
when w[Bmim][Lys] is less than 0.10, yet it decreases with increasing
6 D. Fu et al. / Energy 113 (2016) 1e8

where hwater is the viscosity of water, h is the viscosity of the

aqueous solution, Vm is the molar volume of diffusing substance, Ls
and Lw are respectively the latent heat of vaporization of the solvent
and water. Combining Eqs. (5) and (6) gives:

 0:5
kCB
Nf (7)
h
It can be seen from Eq. (7) that either a lower viscosity or a
higher concentration of the absorbent can lead to a higher ab-
sorption rate. However, with the increase of the concentration of
the absorbent, the solution viscosity also increases, thus may
decrease the absorption rate. The competitive effects of concen-
tration and viscosity on absorption rate can be found in Fig. 6,
indicating that in the case of low solution concentration, the ab-
sorption rate increases rapidly with increasing concentration due to
low viscosity. However, with increasing solution concentration and
viscosity, the absorption rate CO2 in MDEA-[Bmim][Lys] aqueous
solutions decreases.

4. Conclusions

The absorption of CO2 in MDEA-[Bmim][Lys] aqueous solution

Fig. 5. Effect of the temperature on the absorption rate of CO2 in MDEA-[Bmim][Lys] was measured in this work. The viscosities of both CO2-unloaded
aqueous solutions at wMDEA/w[Bmim][Lys] ¼ 0.30/0.10 and wMDEA/w[Bmim][Lys] ¼ 0.40/
and CO2-loaded MDEA-[Bmim][Lys] aqueous solutions were
0.10 (insert). Symbols: experiments in this work CT ¼ 303.2 K; BT ¼ 313.2 K;
-T ¼ 323.2 K. Lines: trend lines. measured and correlated. The relationship between the absorption
rate and the solution properties including solution composition and
solution viscosity was analyzed. Our results show that:
Table 8
The absorption rate (R) of CO2 in MDEA-[Bmim][Lys] aqueous solutions. (1) The addition of [Bmim][Lys] into MDEA aqueous solution can
wMDEA w[Bmim][Lys] R (gCO2/100 g aqueous solution/min) obviously increase the absorption rate and the absorption
capacity. However, the addition of [Bmim][Lys] may also
303.2 K 313.2 K 323.2 K
decrease the absorption rate because the increase of w[Bmim]
0.3001 0 0.16 0.17 0.18
[Lys] may increase the viscosity and decrease the diffusion
0.0499 0.30 0.39 0.41
0.1001 0.33 0.46 0.48
coefficient of CO2 in the solution;
0.1501 0.29 0.39 0.42
0.4001 0 0.10 0.14 0.15
0.0501 0.19 0.29 0.32
0.0999 0.34 0.39 0.42
0.1501 0.27 0.37 0.41

Standard uncertainties u are u(T) ¼ 0.1 K; u(w) ¼ ±0.0001; u(p) ¼ 5 kPa;

u(R) ¼ 0.01 g CO2/100 g aqueous solution/min.

w[Bmim][Lys] when w[Bmim][Lys] is greater than 0.10. Such phenome-

non may be reasonable because in the case of higher solution
concentration, the solution viscosity gets higher thus may decrease
the diffusion coefficient of CO2 in MDEA-[Bmim][Lys] aqueous
solutions.
In general, the absorption of gas A in aqueous solution B may be
expressed as [34]:
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
NfCA * a DA kCB (5)

where N is the mass transfer rate, CA is the concentration of CO2, a is

the absorbing surface area, DA is the diffusion coefficient of gas in
liquid phase, CB is the concentration of the effective absorbent, k is
the absorption rate constant. DA is dominated by the viscosity of the
aqueous solution, which can be expressed as [64]:

14  10
5
DA ¼ (6)
hwater ð1:1  Ls =Lw ÞVm
0:6 h Fig. 6. Effects of concentration on the absorption rate and viscosity of MDEA-[Bmim]
[Lys] aqueous solutions (insert). wMDEA ¼ 0.40. Symbols: CT ¼ 303.2 K; -T ¼ 313.2 K;
:T ¼ 323.2 K.
 D. Fu et al. / Energy 113 (2016) 1e8
(2) When (w[Bmim][Lys]þwMDEA) is less than 0.55 and w[Bmim][Lys]
is around 0.10, high absorption rate and appropriate viscosity
can be simultaneously achieved;
(3) The absorption rate increases with increasing temperature
when the temeratures ranged from 303.2 K to 313.2 K.
However, the absorption rate at 323.2 K is very close to that
at 313.2 K;
(4) In the case of CO2 unloaded, the solution viscosity increases
with the increase of w[Bmim][Lys] at given temperature and
given wMDEA, and exponentially decreases with the increase
of temperature at given solution composition; In the case of
CO2 loaded, the viscosity increases monotonously with the
increase of CO2 loading and exponentially decreases with
increasing temperature.
Acknowledgments
The authors appreciate the financial support from the National
Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 21276072) and the
Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Nos.
2014XS85 and 13ZD16).
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