CO₂ absorption/regeneration enhancement in DI water with suspended nanoparticles for energy conversion application

The integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) is getting much more attention due to the rich reserves of coal around the world. In general, the absorption rate of a physical method such as the IGCC system is weaker than that of a chemical method, but it needs much less energy during the regeneration process. In this study, the main objective is to estimate the performance enhancement for CO₂ gas absorption and regeneration by using SiO₂/DI water and Al₂O₃/DI water nanofluids. The key parameters are the concentrations of SiO₂ and Al₂O₃ nanoparticles and the system pressure during the regeneration process. It is found that the maximum CO₂ absorption and regeneration performance enhancements are 23.5% and 11.8% at 0.01vol% of SiO₂ nanoparticles, respectively. However, in the case of Al₂O₃ nanoparticles, the CO₂ absorption performance increases 23.5% at 0.01vol%, but the regeneration performance decreases 11.2% at 0.01vol%, respectively. The enhancement mechanisms for CO₂ absorption and regeneration by nanoparticles are summarized and proposed in this study.