Impact of Solvent on the Thermal Stability of Amines

Water-lean solvents have been proposed as a possible alternative to aqueous amine systems in postcombustion carbon capture. There is however little data available on how amine degradation is affected by different solvents. This study presents new insights on the effect of solvent on thermal degradation of alkanolamines from laboratory-scale degradation experiments. Replacing the water in aqueous monoethanolamine (MEA) solutions with organic diluents resulted in varying thermal degradation rates. Overall, all tested organic diluents (triethylene glycol, diethylene glycol, mono ethylene glycol, tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol, N-formyl morpholine/water, and N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone) resulted in higher thermal degradation rates for loaded MEA. None of the proposed parameters, such as acid–base behavior, polarity, or relative permittivities, stood out as single contributing factors for the variation in degradation rates. The typical degradation compounds observed for an aqueous MEA solvent were also observed for MEA in various concentrations and with various organic diluents.