Incomplete CO 2 Desorption Enhances O 2 Stability of Solid Amine Carbon Capture Sorbents

Abstract Reducing carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions is a critical environmental challenge. Capturing CO 2 by solid polyethylenimine (PEI) sorbents is proposed as a strategy to address this concern. The CO 2 forms carbamates with the amine groups on the solid sorbent. However, solid PEI sorbents are unstable under O 2 ‐containing flue gas streams, a property that has greatly limited their industrial importance. To combat this O 2 ‐sensitivity, the amount of CO 2 desorbed per cycle is reduced to protect amines by the formed carbamates. These carbamates sufficiently reduce oxidative cleavage and maintain a low k deac of −0.00373 cycle −1 while maintaining a working capacity of 2.88 wt% (0.65 mmol g −1 ) under an O 2 ‐containing gas mixture. Additionally, it is discovered that the degradation rate can be tuned through adjusting the sorbent working capacity; this tunability can be used to inform future process simulations. This approach offers an additive‐free pathway toward oxidatively stable PEI carbon capture sorbents.