Successful carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) programs depend upon processes to capture carbon dioxide from power plants and other large-scale emission sources. The typical facility involves CO₂ absorption into an aqueous solvent containing a component that enhances solubility with subsequent solvent regeneration by volatilizing the CO₂ at higher temperatures. Recently, chilled ammonia, perhaps with precipitation of bicarbonate salt, has been proposed as a superior alternative to alkanolamines because the energy and solvent costs might be significantly less, while keeping the NH₃ concentration in the flue gas sufficiently low.

The presentation will describe results obtained by careful properties modeling, based on species formation confirmed by spectroscopy, to yield a reliable basis for process modeling. This situation provides a useful example of applying comprehensive data analysis to phase equilibria associated with the absorption and the solvent volatilization, as well as for energy effects, in complex systems.