Aminoalkyl-functionalized pyridines as high cyclic capacity CO2 absorbents

Abstract

Recent years have witnessed a growing academic interest in development of new CO2 capture solvents to reduce the capture costs. This study focused on nine picolylamines (three commercial and six synthesized) and one imidazole-amine, most of which have not previously been reported as amine absorbents. The solvent performance was evaluated by measuring the absorption capacity, desorption tendency and pKa. Several of the amines demonstrated CO2 cyclic capacity significantly higher than that of 30 wt% MEA due to very lean CO2 loadings, driven by low amine pKa. The lean loadings can potentially mitigate solvent degradation. At the same time, absorption rates comparable to 30 wt% MEA were obtained for 3 M picolylamines. The results demonstrate the promising nature of picolylamines and derivatives for CO2 capture.