Oxidative degradation of aqueous amine solutions of MEA, AMP, MDEA, Pz: A review

Alkanolamine based post-combustion capture processes (PCC) are currently the most attractive technologies for CO2 capture. Solvents are degraded in this service by flue gas components, for example oxygen. Solvent degradation can be classified into two reaction types: 1) amine oxidative degradation through a) autoxidation pathways, b) oxidation in the presence of metal ions and 2) thermal degradation including reactions in the presence of CO2. This study represents a literature survey of oxidative degradation (reaction type 1a) of 2-Amino-1-ethanol (MEA), 2-Amino-2-methyl-1-propanol (AMP), N,N-Bis(2-hydroxyethyl)methyl-amine (MDEA), and Piperazine (Pz). Thermal degradation products (reaction type 2) are included where appropriate in order to contribute to a more complete degradation overview of these compounds. (C) 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. Open access under CC BY-NC-ND license. Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of GHGT