AAAR 33rd Annual Conference
October 20 - October 24, 2014
Rosen Shingle Creek
Orlando, Florida, USA
Abstract View
Amines and Their Degradation Products from Post-Combustion Carbon Capture
STEPHANIE SHAW, Annette Rohr, Eladio Knipping, Electric Power Research Institute
Abstract Number: 524 Working Group: Aerosol Sources from Emerging Energy Technologies and Production
Abstract Atmospheric amines have the potential to form aerosols through the formation of aminium salts or secondary organic aerosol. Moreover, researchers have highlighted a key role for amines in aerosol nucleation. The use of amine solvents for post-combustion carbon capture (PCCC) in power plants could lead to emissions of amines and amine degradation production products to the atmosphere. As a result, it is important to develop a clear understanding of the potential human and environmental impacts of those solvents. One critical need in order to better estimate and characterize emissions of the amine solvents and their degradation products is the need to standardize relevant stack sampling and analytical methods. Unfortunately, this issue is complicated by the varying chemical and physical properties of the several compound classes of interest, stage of method development, and difficulty of dealing with sampling constraints of power plant stacks. This led to the development of an international working group to collaboratively evaluate efficacy of methods that already have or could be applied in power plant flue gas, to improve characterization of sampling artifacts, to determine if standardized method performance metrics can be created, and to potentially design a method shoot-out test protocol. The goal is to summarize lessons learned and set the stage for future guidelines for more accurate determination of emissions of amines, related compounds, and their degradation products. Methods reviewed included both online (e.g. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy) and offline (e.g. sorbent trapping and thermal desorbtion) analysis for both gas and particle phase compounds. An overview of the findings and recommendations will be summarized in this presentation.