Absorption of carbon dioxide into aqueous colloidal silica solution with different sizes of silica particles containing monoethanolamine

Carbon dioxide was absorbed into an aqueous nanometer-sized colloidal silica solution in a flat-stirred vessel at 25 °C and 101.3 kPa to measure the absorption rate of CO₂. The concentrations of silica were in the range of 0–31 wt% and the sizes were 7, 60, and 111 nm. The solution contained monoethanolamine (MEA) of 0–2.0 kmol/m³. The volumetric liquid-side mass transfer coefficient (k _L a) of CO₂ was correlated with the empirical formula representing the rheological property of silica solution. The use of the aqueous colloidal silica solution resulted in a reduction of the absorption rate of CO₂ compared with Newtonian liquid based on the same viscosity of the solution. The chemical absorption rate of CO₂ was estimated by film theory using k _L a and physicochemical properties of CO₂ and MEA.