Comprehensive characterisation of regenerable amine solvents used for CO2 and SO2 capture

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Canada is rich in fossil fuels. With energy demand rising worldwide, we will continue to extract, refine and use coal, oil and natural gas for many decades due to the cost benefits. Unfortunately, burning fossil fuels creates greenhouse gases (GHG) like carbon dioxide, CO2, and sulfur dioxide, SO2, whose contribution to global warming is undeniable. Through climate change agreements, countries must rapidly reduce their emissions of these pollutants. Canada's target is to reduce GHG emissions to 30% below the 2005 level of 749 megatonnes CO2 equivalent by 2030 (www.ec.gc.ca/GES-GHG), thus efficient carbon capture technologies are needed. Our industry partner has developed an innovative solvent process to chemically remove CO2 on the order of 120 tonnes CO2 eq./day from flue gases during combustion of fossil fuel. After absorbing the pollutants, the solvent is regenerated and highly purified CO2 is recovered for use rather than being released into the atmosphere. These solvents are composed of amines (nitrogen-containing compounds), which degrade with time due to the chemical reactions taking place during CO2 capture and solvent regeneration. To optimize the capture process and make it energy efficient for companies to meet legislated carbon abatement targets, it is essential to identify and quantitate all chemical species present and understand the mechanism of solvent degradation. However, this has been problematic for our partner. With our expertise in chemical analysis, we propose to develop new analytical methods to characterize the regenerable solvents. Using new hydrophilic liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry methods, we aim to identify all the species in the amine solvents, monitor them throughout the capture process and explore the solvent degradation mechanisms. This will ultimately allow our partner to optimize the solvent composition for better CO2/SO2 capture and energy efficiency at industrial sites. The outcomes of this project will result in economic benefits in Canada's energy sector, social benefits by reducing GHGs linked to climate change and scientific benefits through improved amine analysis methods.**