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 tech- nologies 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.