Kinetics of CO2 Absorption into Aqueous Basic Amino Acid Salt: Potassium Salt of Lysine Solution

Aqueous amino acid salts are considered as an attractive alternative to alkanolamine solvents (e.g., MEA) for carbon dioxide (CO2) absorption. The kinetics of CO2 into unloaded aqueous solutions of potassium lysinate (LysK) was studied using a wetted wall column at concentrations ranging from 0.25 to 2.0 M and temperatures from 298 to 333 K. Physicochemical properties of aqueous LysK solutions such as density, viscosity, and physical solubility of CO2 were measured to evaluate the reaction rate constants. The reaction pathway is described using zwitterion mechanism taking into account the effect of ionic strength on the reaction rate. Under the fast pseudo-first-order regime, the reaction rate parameters were obtained and correlated in a power-law reaction rate expression. LysK shows higher chemical reactivity toward CO2 than the industrial standard MEA and most of amino acid salts. Its reaction rate constants increase considerably with concentration and temperature. The reaction order is found to be an average value of 1.58 with respect to LysK. The forward second-order kinetic rate constant, k2 0 , are obtained as 31615 and 84822 m3 kmol−1 s−1 at 298 and 313 K, respectively with activation energy of 51.0 kJ mol−1. The contribution of water to the zwitterion deprotonation seems to be more significant than that of LysK for the above-mentioned kinetic conditions