AAAR 34th Annual Conference
October 12 - October 16, 2015
Hyatt Regency
Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
Abstract View
Characterizing the Oxidation by Nitrate Radicals of Alcohol Amines Used in Carbon Dioxide Control Technologies
PAUL VAN ROOY, Derek Price, Jackson Dulla, Dana Pierce, Tatissa Zunguze, Kathleen Purvis-Roberts, David R. Cocker III, University of California, Riverside
Abstract Number: 727 Working Group: Aerosol Chemistry
Abstract Alcohol amines are used in control technologies designed to capture and sequester carbon dioxide from the flue gas of coal-fired power plants. As this carbon capture process becomes more common, it is important to understand the detrimental environmental and human health impacts associated with the release and subsequent reaction of these compounds in the atmosphere. A number of environmental chamber experiments were conducted to characterize the oxidation of alcohol amines, including monoethanolamine, 2-methylaminoethanol, and dimethylethanolamine, with the nitrate radical. A scanning mobility particle sizer was used to determine the size distribution and concentration of the produced aerosol. A high resolution – time of flight – aerosol mass spectrometer was used to measure the particle-phase composition. A selected ion flow tube mass spectrometer was used to measure the gas-phase chemical composition. Alcohol amines formed a significant amount of particulate matter during experiments. The chemical composition of the formed aerosol varied with each amine. Gas-phase nitramines, possible carcinogens, were observed in some of the experiments. Amine nitrate salts were the dominant aerosol produced. Amine oligomers were also observed.