Toward Understanding Amines and Their Degradation Products from Postcombustion CO2 Capture Processes with Aerosol Mass Spectrometry

Amine-based postcombustion CO2 capture (PCCC) is a promising technique for reducing CO2 emissions from fossil fuel burning plants. A concern of the technique, however, is the emission of amines and their degradation byproducts. To assess the environmental risk of this technique, standardized stack sampling and analytical methods are needed. Here we report on the development of an integrated approach that centers on the application of a high-resolution time-of-flight aerosol mass spectrometer (HR-ToF-AMS) for characterizing amines and PCCC-relevant species. Molecular characterization is achieved via ion chromatography (IC) and electrospray ionization high-resolution mass spectrometry (ESI-MS). The method has been optimized, particularly, by decreasing the AMS vaporizer temperature, to gain quantitative information on the elemental composition and major nitrogen-containing species in laboratory-degraded amine solvents commonly tested for PCCC applications, including ethanolamine (MEA), methyldiethanolamine (MDEA), and piperazine (PIP). The AMS-derived nitrogen-to-carbon (N/C) ratios for the degraded solvent and product mixtures agree well with the results from a total organic carbon and total nitrogen (TOC/TN) analyzer. In addition, marker ions identified in the AMS spectra are used to estimate the mass contributions of individual species. Overall, our results indicate that this new approach is suitable for characterizing PCCC-related mixtures as well as organic nitrogen species in other sample types. As an online instrument, AMS can be used for both real-time characterization of emissions from operating PCCC plants and ambient particles in the vicinity of the facilities.