Abstract
Nitrogen and organic matter removal from reclaimer waste of a monoethanolamine (MEA) based CO2-capture plant was demonstrated in a pre-denitrification biofilm system. The reclaimer waste was generated from a 30 % (w/w) MEA solvent used for capturing CO2 from flue gas from a coal-fired power plant. MEA, N-(2-hydroxylethyl)glycine (HEGly) and 2-hydroxyethylformamide (HEF) were the major contaminants treated. Hydrolysis of MEA to ammonia and further oxidation of organic intermediates readily occurred in the pre-denitrification system with a hydraulic retention time of 7 h. The biofilm system achieved 98 ± 1 % removal of MEA and 72 ± 16 % removal of total nitrogen. This is the first demonstration of efficient biodegradation of real amine waste from a post-combustion CO2 capture facility by pre-denitrification without external electron donor.
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Ackowledgments
This study was supported by the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Technology (Project 70186500) at Norwegian University of Science and Technology, and by the SOLVit project, performed under the strategic Norwegian research program CLIMIT. The authors acknowledge the partners in SOLVit: Aker Clean Carbon, Gassnova, E.ON, EnBW and the Research Council of Norway for their support.
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Hauser, I., Einbu, A., Østgaard, K. et al. Biodegradation of amine waste generated from post-combustion CO2 capture in a moving bed biofilm treatment system. Biotechnol Lett 35, 219–224 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10529-012-1073-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10529-012-1073-6