Carbon dioxide capturing from the flue gas of power stations is an effective way to mitigate the global warming. In order to predict the performance from startup to stable operation in CO2 absorption process, a multi-field synergy model was developed based on CO2 capture process in a packed column by means of monoethanolamine (MEA). The model suggests that the integral diffusion-reaction coefficient plays an important role in the diffusion, fluid flow, heat transfer and chemical reaction processes. The influences of the fluid flow, heat transfer and chemical reaction can be justified using corresponding synergy numbers, quantifying multi-field interactive dynamic characteristics of the CO2 capture process. The simulation shows a good agreement compared with data in the literature. The results show that the packing Reynolds number can be used as a criterion to choose the proper packing. The less the Reynolds number is, the more efficient the reaction absorption is. The average synergy number F-dc would be decreased by 20% with 6 K temperature drop and be descended by 7% with the 2.5% solvent weight percentage increment, which improved the efficiency of CO2 capture by about 5% and 14%, and lowered the energy consumption by about 5%. The average synergy number F-dh, would be decreased by about 8% with the 0.062 mol/moIMEA lean solvent loading increment, which improved the efficiency by about 15% and lowered the energy consumption by 5%. After comparing with CMR-2, Raschig rings, Berl saddles and Pall rings, the 33% less average synergy number F-df of the CMR-2 packing with about 5% drop in energy consumption yields the highest efficiency of 71%, which is 10% higher than that of the Bed saddle packing. The results indicate that the proposed multi-field synergy model is an effective way to intensify the capture process as a guideline with the priority of precision and simplicity. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.