MaximaLabs
All guides
Pilot plant, Niederaussem, Germany

How to simulate amp post-combustion co2 capture (hindered amine)

The MEA capture loop run on 2-amino-2-methyl-1-propanol: the same flue gas (12% CO₂ at 1.1 bar), 30 wt% AMP (8 mol%) at a lean loading of 0.10, steam stripping at 1.9 bar and an overhead condenser. AMP is sterically hindered — its carbamate is unstable, so CO₂ goes to bicarbonate and one mole of amine can carry one mole of CO₂ where MEA's carbamate stoichiometry stops at half — and the enrtl-amp package's speciation reproduces that: the rich loading comes out at 0.70 mol/mol against the MEA card's 0.53, so 500 mol/s of solvent does what 650 mol/s of MEA did, with 3.1 MW on the rich heater instead of 3.9. The CO₂ product is 27.7 mol/s at 93 mol%. Same.

GAS
LEAN
liq
gas
gas
rich
ABS
Treated GAS
Letdown
Richhx
Stripvap
liq
gas
gas
rich
Strip
OVHD COND
Reflux DRUM
CO2 Product
Reflux Water
LEAN Regen
  1. 1
    Open the ready-made model

    Open the "AMP post-combustion CO2 capture (hindered amine)" model in the MaximaLabs workspace — no install, no license. It loads live on the canvas, ready to edit and run.

  2. 2
    Confirm the thermodynamics

    This process is modeled with the ENRTL-AMP property package over n2, co2, o2, water, amp — already selected, so the phase equilibrium and enthalpy are physically consistent from the first run.

  3. 3
    Review the flowsheet

    The flowsheet chains 2× Strip, Letdown, 2× OVHD COND, Reflux DRUM. Every block is a real, solvable unit op you can reconfigure on the canvas.

  4. 4
    Run the simulation

    Click Run. The deterministic solver converges the material and energy balances (recycles included) and fills the live stream table — the AI never invents a number.

  5. 5
    Read the results and iterate

    Inspect the converged streams, tweak a spec, and re-run — or ask the AI copilot to explain a result or diagnose a failed solve in plain English.

What you'll build
Thermodynamics
ENRTL-AMP
Components
n2, co2, o2, water, amp
Unit operations
2× StripLetdown2× OVHD CONDReflux DRUM
Open this model in the workspace

Opens live on the canvas — free, no install.

Explore the model & flowsheet

Modeling assumptions & limitations

What this model captures, and what it deliberately does not — from the engineers who built it.

  1. 1As the MEA card: Kremser stage models, K at the entering liquid, loop open, regeneration to zero loading. The AMP constants are screening-grade (see); the trend against MEA is the physics, the third digit is not.

Frequently asked questions

What does the AMP post-combustion CO2 capture (hindered amine) model simulate?
The MEA capture loop run on 2-amino-2-methyl-1-propanol: the same flue gas (12% CO₂ at 1.1 bar), 30 wt% AMP (8 mol%) at a lean loading of 0.10, steam stripping at 1.9 bar and an overhead condenser. AMP is sterically hindered — its carbamate is unstable, so CO₂ goes to bicarbonate and one mole of amine can carry one mole of CO₂ where MEA's carbamate stoichiometry stops at half — and the enrtl-amp package's speciation reproduces that: the rich loading comes out at 0.70 mol/mol against the MEA card's 0.53, so 500 mol/s of solvent does what 650 mol/s of MEA did, with 3.1 MW on the rich heater instead of 3.9. The CO₂ product is 27.7 mol/s at 93 mol%. Same.
Which thermodynamic method does it use?
The ENRTL-AMP property package, over n2, co2, o2, water, amp — already selected. You can switch the method on the canvas before running.
Which unit operations are in the flowsheet?
It chains 2× Strip, Letdown, 2× OVHD COND, Reflux DRUM. Every block is a real, solvable unit operation you can reconfigure, add to, or remove.
Do I need to install software or buy a license?
No. AMP post-combustion CO2 capture (hindered amine) runs entirely in your browser on MaximaLabs — free, no install, no license. Open the model to load it live and run the deterministic solver.

More guides like this

Coal-fired power station, Mongstad, Norway

MEA post-combustion CO2 capture (electrolyte NRTL)

The reference amine process on the reference amine: flue gas (12% CO₂ at 1.1 bar, 313 K) scrubbed with 30 wt% aqueous monoethanolamine at a lean loading of 0.20 mol CO₂ per mol MEA, the rich solvent pumped and heated to 388 K, steam-stripped at 1.9 bar, and the overhead condensed at 313 K into a CO₂ product and a reflux-water stream. It runs on the enrtl package — carbamate/bicarbonate/protonation speciation with Davies activity, the CO₂ partial pressure a function of loading and temperature — which is what sets the rich loading of 0.53 mol/mol the absorber reaches and drives the stripper the other way at 390 K. What it computes: 24 mol/s of CO₂ into 695 mol/s of rich solvent, a 39 mol/s CO₂ product at 94 mol% after the condenser knocks out 109 mol/s of water, 3.9 MW of rich-solvent heating for 650 mol/s of circulation (the sensible-heat penalty the sensitivity sweep traces against solvent rate) and 6.8 MW of overhead condensing.

Brevik, Norway (Heidelberg Materials Norcem — first full-scale cement CCS)

Cement kiln calcination + CO2 liquefaction

Preheated limestone (CaCO₃) enters an indirectly-heated rotary kiln that calcines it toward CaO, releasing a CO₂-rich off-gas; the gas passes a knockout drum, then is compressed and cooled to liquefy the CO₂ for transport/storage.

Boundary Dam, Saskatchewan, Canada

Post-combustion CO₂ capture

A separator recovers 90% of the CO₂ from a flue-gas stream — the sustainability layer then tracks the captured tonnes.

NET Power demonstration plant, La Porte, Texas, USA

sCO2 Allam-Fetvedt oxy-combustion power cycle

Natural gas burns in near-pure oxygen, diluted by a large recycled supercritical-CO₂ flow instead of air's nitrogen — the oxy-combustion, near-critical-CO₂ cycle that yields pipeline-ready CO₂ with no separate capture step. Main compressor takes CO₂ from just above its critical point (310 K, 8 MPa vs. Tc=304 K/Pc=7.38 MPa) to 30 MPa; the combined CO2+combustion-product stream expands through a real isentropic-efficiency turbine, still supercritical throughout.

Gas plant, Lacq, France

DEA natural-gas sweetening at 50 bar

A high-pressure gas-treating unit on diethanolamine, the canonical secondary amine: 100 mol/s of 5% CO₂ natural gas at 50 bar and 313 K against 200 mol/s of 25 wt% DEA (5.4 mol%), the rich amine let down to 1.8 bar, heated to 388 K and steam stripped, the overhead condensed. The enrtl-dea package carries DEA's cited protonation anchor (pKa 8.9) with a screening-grade carbamate constant. What it computes: a treated gas that is pure methane, a rich loading of 0.52 mol/mol — right at the carbamate ceiling of a secondary amine — a 5.1 mol/s CO₂ product at 89 mol% (the rest methane co-absorbed at 50 bar and water), 1.2 MW on the rich heater. Same model bounds as the MEA card: Kremser stages with the K at the entering liquid, open loop, regeneration to zero loading.

Ammonia plant, Sluiskil, Netherlands

MDEA bulk CO2 removal from shifted syngas

Bulk CO₂ removal ahead of a hydrogen or ammonia unit on N-methyldiethanolamine, the tertiary amine that forms no carbamate and so carries up to one mole of CO₂ per mole as bicarbonate: 200 mol/s of shifted syngas (18% CO₂, 70% H₂) at 30 bar against 450 mol/s of 45 wt% MDEA (11 mol%), regenerated at 1.8 bar with steam. The enrtl-mdea package uses the proton-acceptor speciation only. What it computes: the treated syngas at 85% H₂ / 12% CO with the CO₂ gone, a rich loading of 0.75 mol/mol, a 37 mol/s CO₂ product at 94 mol% and 2.7 MW on the rich heater. Bounds: Kremser stages (the K at the entering liquid, so the absorber captures to completion where a real MDEA absorber is kinetically slow and leaves a slip), open loop, and the loading model caps at 0.99 — the solvent rate is set so the rich end stays well below it, because past the cap the model keeps absorbing.

Stop fighting legacy software. Build your first flowsheet in 60 seconds.