Amines

Amines are organic compounds, in which one or more of the hydrogen atoms in ammonia (NH3) are substituted by organic compounds, conventionally marked in chemical formu-las as R. Depending on the number of substituents replacing the hydrogen atoms of the ammonia group, amines are termed primary (chemical formula RNH2), secondary (R¹R²NH) or tertiary (R¹R²R³N) amines.

Amines have been used for CO2 capture since at least the 1960s for EOR. Amine-based absorption is therefore considered a mature technology and has been studied exten-sively. Amines best suitable for CO2 capture are alkanolamines, which means amines containing at least one hydroxyl (-OH) group. The hydroxyl group is considered to reduce vapour pressure and increase solubility in water, while the amino group provides alkalin-ity necessary to absorb CO2. (Merikoski 2012)

Several amines are being used and researched for various CO2 capture applications.

EOR is the most notable technology, but post-combustion capture has emerged since.

There seems to be no reason for amine absorption not to work with oxyfuel or precom-bustion capture as well, other than the partial pressure threshold after which physical ab-sorption becomes desirable. Primary amines are preferred when the partial pressure of CO2 is less than 1 bar, while tertiary amines are better at higher pressures, up until the threshold of 8 bars.

Figure 5.2. A typical amine-based CO2 absorption unit (adapted from Rackley 2004) In an amine-based CO2 absorption process (Figure 5.2), flue gas is first cooled with water. Then the flue gas enters an absorber tower. In the tower, the solvent reacts with the CO2 in the flue gas. The rest of the flue gas, consisting of mostly N2 and H2O, is washed in order to reduce solvent losses. After washing the flue gas is released to the atmosphere.

Rich solvent, which now carries most of the CO2, goes into a stripping tower. The solvent is heated in a heat exchanger, recovering heat from recycled lean solvent. In the stripping tower, the rich solvent is heated with a reboiler, thus releasing the CO2 and regenerating the solvent. Steam and released CO2 exit the stripping tower, after which the

steam is condensed from the CO2 product stream. The lean, regenerated solvent is cycled back to the absorber.

The most common amine used in CO2 absorption is monoethanolamine (MEA), in which one of the hydrogen atoms is replaced by an ethanol group (Figure 5.3a). It acts as a weak base in an aqueous solution, capable of neutralizing an acidic molecule, such as CO2. When a primary amine reacts with CO2, a carbamate ion is produced (Equation 8).

Secondary amines, such as diethanolamine (DEA, Figure 5.3d), react similarly to primary amines (Equation 9). Both reactions are exothermic.

2RNH₂+CO₂ → RNH₃⁺+ RNHCOO^- (8)

2R¹R²NH+CO₂ → R¹R²NH₂⁺+ R¹R²NCOO^- (9) Carbamates (Figure 5.3b) are organic compounds derived from carbamic acid (NH2COOH, Figure 5.3c). Certain carbamates are used as insecticides. While most car-bamate insecticides have complicated chemical structures, some simple ones exist and may pose a threat to environment, if formation and release to atmosphere occurs. An ex-ample of a relatively simple carbamate insecticide is methomyl, which may form in the presence of sulfur. Methomyl is highly toxic to humans and has low sorption affinity to soil, which may lead to serious ground and surface water contamination (Tomašević et al. 2010). Information on formation of potentially dangerous carbamates in CCS is limited and more research is required.

(a) (b) (c)

(d) (e)

Figure 5.3. Structures of (a) monoethanolamine MEA, (b) carbamate, (c) carbamic acid, (d) diethanolamine DEA and (e) methyldiethanolamine MDEA.

With tertiary amines, such as methyldiethanolamine (MDEA, Figure 5.3e) CO2 is ab-sorbed by base-catalyzed hydration (Equation 10), which is exothermic. The reaction also occurs with lower amines, but its rate of reaction is so low that the contribution to CO2

absorption is insignificant. Another reaction that also occurs with all three amines is the formation of carbonic acid (Equation 11), but it is also considered insignificant.

R¹R²R³N+CO₂+ H₂O → R¹R²NH⁺+ HCO₃^- (10)

CO₂+ H₂O → H₂CO₃ (11)

Figure 5.4. 2-amino-2-methyl-1-propanol (AMP).

Figure 5.5. Cyclohexane (left) and piperazine (right).

Other relevant amines include piperazine (PZ) and 2-amino-2-methyl-1-propanol (AMP). AMP (Figure 5.4) is a sterically hindered amine. Steric hindrance means that each atom of a molecule occupies a certain amount of space, thus shaping the geometry of the molecule, with large groups preventing reactions with other groups of the molecule. Ste-rically hindered amines react with CO2 unlike regular amines, leading to a higher absorp-tion capacity (per mol) and lower amine requirement. Higher selectivity for H2S and CO2

by using sterically hindered amines has also been hypothesized. (Merikoski 2012) Piperazine (C4H10N2) is a cyclohexane with two opposing carbon atoms replaced by amine groups (Figure 5.5). It is not an alkanolamine as it does not contain a hydroxyl group. Piperazine can still absorb high loads of CO2 and the absorption rate is signifi-cantly faster than of MEA, for instance. While not generally used for absorption as such, it is often used as an additive with MDEA. It is also less corrosive, less volatile and re-sistant to degradation by oxidation. However, it appears to have adverse health effects and long degradation time in marine ecosystems (Merikoski 2012).

Generally speaking, primary amines are more subject to degradation in the presence of CO2 compared to secondary and tertiary amines. Degradation products include formic acid (HCOOH) and ammonia. SO2 and NO2 react with amines to form various sulfates and nitrates. Other impurities, such as HCl, may also exist in the flue gas and degrade the amines further. Amine degradation leads to a reduction in absorption capacity and intro-duces a need for solvent make-up and waste disposal. There is a chance these compounds, as well as the amines used themselves, can also reach the atmosphere or the CO2 product stream.

Other possible emissions caused by amine reactions are nitroamines and nitrosamines (Figure 5.6). Nitroamines (R¹R²N-NO2) are amines with a nitro group (-NO2), while ni-trosamines (R¹R²N-N=O) have a nitroso group (-NO). The R¹ and R² groups can belong to the same cyclic group. Nitroamines and nitrosamines are considered carcinogenic and toxic. Their long-term effects are not well known. The reaction mechanics of how they are formed in the capture process is not known either. Furthermore, it is not well known how amines or possible degradation products react in the atmosphere.

(a) (b)

Figure 5.6. Generic structures of (a) nitroamine and (b) nitrosamine.

The biodegradability of primary and secondary amines is higher than that of tertiary amines. However, sterically hindered and cyclic amines, such as AMP and PZ, are more stable and less biodegradable (Eide-Hauhmo 2012).