Exploration of amino sugars as CO2-capturing solvents

本研究项目的重点是分析一类新的溶剂CO2捕获，即氨基糖的水溶液。氨基糖是其中羟基被胺基取代的糖分子。氨基糖是潜在的有吸引力的CO2捕集剂，由于其改善的风险和安全性，更容易生物降解的废溶液和对工厂设备的不利影响最小。然而，氨基糖水溶液反应吸收CO2的相关研究较少，需要在典型吸收装置中对其性能进行全面分析，才能对潜在的吸收剂进行全面评价。因此，反应吸收和解吸单元的可靠模型是必要的。有了这些模型，竞争溶剂的性能可以直接检查，并使用虚拟吸收柱的数值研究进行比较（所谓的虚拟实验）。在预期的研究项目中，氨基糖N-乙酰葡糖胺及其与常规使用的烷醇胺的混合物将由印度项目合作伙伴Vaidya教授（孟买化学技术研究所）进行实验表征。他将测量物理化学性质、反应动力学和平衡的所有必要数据。申请人将在帕德博恩大学使用这些数据对二氧化碳捕获过程进行基于速率的建模。使用开发的模型，模拟将进行工业规模的吸收装置，以确定最佳性能的溶剂混合物。

The present research project focuses on the analysis of a novel class of solvents for CO2 capture, namely aqueous solutions of amino sugars. An amino sugar is a sugar molecule in which a hydroxyl group is replaced with an amine group. Amino sugars are potentially attractive CO2-capturing reagents, due to their improved risk and safety properties, easier biodegradation of its spent solutions and minimal adverse effects on the plant equipment. However, available information on the reactive absorption of CO2 into aqueous solutions of amino sugar is scarce.A comprehensive evaluation of potential solvents requires a thorough analysis of their performance within typical absorption equipment. Therefore, reliable models of reactive absorption and desorption units are necessary. With such models, the performance of competing solvents can be directly checked and compared using numerical studies for virtual absorption columns (the so-called virtual experiments).In the anticipated research project, the amino sugar N-Acetylglucosamin and its blends with conventionally used alkanolamines will be experimentally characterised by the Indian project partner Prof. Vaidya (Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai). He will measure all necessary data on physicochemical properties, reaction kinetics and equilibrium. These data will be used by the applicant at Paderborn University for the rate-based modelling of the CO2-capture process. Using the developed model, simulations will be carried out for industrial-scale absorption units in order to identify the best performing solvent blend.