Amine degradation in CO2 capture. 2. New degradation products of MEA. Pyrazine and alkylpyrazines: Analysis, mechanism of formation and toxicity

Abstract

CO 2 capture and storage is one of the promising technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. To be used, this technology needs economic but also environmental acceptance. Nevertheless, amines used in CO 2 capture process react with flue gas components (O 2 , CO 2 , NOx, SOx...) to form degradation products, and some of them could be potentially dangerous to humans or environment according to their toxicity and their concentration. Ethanolamine (MEA) is the benchmark amine for this application. Although MEA degradation has been intensively studied, some degradation products are still unidentified. In this article, new degradation products of MEA are reported: pyrazine and 9 alkyl pyrazines. A new analytical method based on HS-SPME and GC-MS was developed to identify and quantify the 10 pyrazines present in a pilot plant sample. A mechanism for their formation was proposed. The toxicity of these molecules was assessed based on available toxicological data and, when the information was not sufficient, a computational approach was used: TOPKAT and DEREK SARs. LD 50 , skin and eye irritancy potential, genotoxicity and reproductive effects were assessed. The study showed that the ten identified pyrazines could be considered as safe at the level of intake estimated at 0.2 to 120 µg/day in Europe.

Recent progress and new developments in post-combustion carbon-capture technology with amine based solvents

“…The second publication in the same series has highlighted the work on toxicity evaluation and formation mechanism based on a combination of condensation, dehydration, and oxidation of aldehydes of pyrazine and its derivatives claimed as newly found MEA degradation products (Rey et al, 2013). Mechanism studies of more MEA-based degradation products in the group of amides and nitrogen-based heterocyclic compounds have been added to the work in this research program (Gouedard et al, 2014).…”

Energy Consumption for CO2 Capture by means of the Calcium Looping Process: A Comparative Analysis using Limestone, Dolomite, and Steel Slag

“…However, Boundary Dam (100 MWe) in Canada is up to date the only commercial CFPP that applies CCS using chemical absorption by monoethanolamine (MEA). The expansion of this mature technology for CO 2 capture at a large scale is hindered by a number of challenges such as amine toxicity and degradation, equipment corrosion, and the high energy consumption for sorbent regeneration . Thus, there is a need for developing new large‐scale capture technologies with reduced energy penalty and capture cost, which should rely on environmentally friendly, abundantly available, and inexpensive materials.…”

Practical experience in post-combustion CO2 capture using reactive solvents in large pilot and demonstration plants

“…Some recent works on GC method development for liquid analysis are available. According to a report (Rey et al, 2013), glycol based high polar column of DB-Wax and non polar CP-SIL 8CB-ms column were used to analyze MEA and its pyrazine based degradation products. Although GC-MS is a powerful tool for amine analysis, the technique still poses a problem as it cannot effectively analyze all amines due to the highly polar nature typical of many CO 2 capture solvents.…”