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Lewis, Rachel V. (2017) Characterisation of degraded solvents from the amine scrubbing process. EngD thesis, University of Nottingham.

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Abstract

Whilst there have been a number of studies into amine degradation at laboratory scale few have investigated this phenomenon at pilot plant scale. The aims of this thesis were to use a variety of analytical techniques to analyse both primary and blended amine solvents from pilot plants in the UK and North West Europe. The results from the analyses were correlated in an effort to present a comprehensive overview of solvent behaviour at this scale.

The analytical methods used were Gas Chromatography Mass Spectroscopy (GC-MS), Gas Chromatography Flame Ionisation Detection (GC-FID), Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectroscopy (ICPMS), Ion Chromatography (IC), and 13C Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. The corrosive effects of the solvents were investigated using electrochemical testing.

The data from GC-MS and GC-FID was correlated in order to quantify the major degradation products found in amine solvents. ICPMS was used to quantify the metals in the solvents and was correlated with IC data. The use of 13C NMR spectroscopy had previously been used to monitor the speciation of amines in solvent systems, but had not been correlated to any other data. This work used 13C NMR spectroscopy to quantify the amine species in the solvent and correlated this data to GC-MS results. From the electrochemical testing it was shown that corrosion only increases when oxygen is present in the system but is negligible at low temperatures (40°C). The use of continuous cationic exchange resins to remove metals was shown to be an effective method of mitigating degradation in primary amine solvents. It was also shown that 13C NMR spectroscopy can be used for the rapid analysis of the extent of degradation and can be used in conjunction with other analytical methods to monitor amine degradation.

Item Type:	Thesis (University of Nottingham only) (EngD)
Supervisors:	Snape, Colin E. Licence, Peter
Subjects:	T Technology > TD Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering
Faculties/Schools:	UK Campuses > Faculty of Engineering
Item ID:	42035
Depositing User:	Lewis, Rachel
Date Deposited:	13 Jul 2017 04:40
Last Modified:	06 May 2020 12:47
URI:	https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/id/eprint/42035

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