Patent ID: 8221528

Claim:
A method of operating a processing system comprising: providing a first microchannel including a first absorbent inlet, a first absorbent outlet, a feed stream inlet, and a first resultant gas outlet; providing a second microchannel including a second absorbent inlet, a second absorbent outlet, and a second resultant gas outlet, the second microchannel being arranged in a counterflow arrangement relative to the first microchannel; circulating an absorbent through the first microchannel and the second microchannel; receiving a flue gas feed including nitrogen and carbon dioxide through the feed stream inlet; exhausting, from the first resultant gas outlet, a first resultant gas having a higher concentration of nitrogen than the flue gas feed; and, exhausting, from the second resultant gas outlet, a second resultant gas having a higher concentration of carbon dioxide than the flue gas feed; wherein the absorbent has a temperature T 1 at the first inlet, a temperature T 2 at the first outlet, a temperature T 3 at the second inlet, and a temperature T 4 at the second outlet; and, wherein at least one of the following conditions is satisfied: T 2 is greater than T 3 and T 1 is greater than T 4 .