Oxidative Degradation of Aqueous 2-Amino-2-methyl-1-propanol Solvent for Postcombustion CO2 Capture

Abstract

2-Amino-2-methyl-1-propanol (AMP) and the blends of AMP with other amines appear to be commercially attractive solvents for postcombustion CO2 capture by absorption/stripping. Oxidative degradation experiments involving AMP aqueous solutions were performed in a 200 mL glass batch reactor with initial AMP concentrations of 5 mol·kg–1, oxygen partial pressures of 250–350 kPa, and at temperatures of 100–140 °C in order to elucidate the degradation mechanistic pathways. The amine loss was determined by cation ion chromatography (IC), while the degradation compounds were identified and quantified by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) and anion IC. The possible chemical pathways of AMP oxidative degradation are proposed on the basis of the identified and quantified products and the context of the current amine degradation schemes. The role of O2 in the proposed pathways is much more explicit than the previously proposed MEA oxidation mechanisms.