Kinetics of COS with Primary and Secondary

Amines in Aqueous Solutions

R. J. Littel, G. F. Versteeg, and W. P. M. van Swaaij
Dept. of Chemical Engineering, University of Twente, 7500 AE Enschede, The Netherlands

The reaction between COS and aqueous solutions of primary andsecondary amines
has been studied by means of the stirred cell technique. Kinetic experiments at
temperatures 283 to 333 K were carried out with MEA, DGA, DEA, DIPA, MMEA,
AMP, and MOR. All kinetic experiments could be described by a zwitterion reaction
mechanism similar to the mechanism proposed by Caplow (1968)for the reaction
between CO, and secondary amines:
COS + R2NH *R2NHf COSR2NHi COS-

+ B * R2NCOS- + BHi

Analysis of concentrated amine solutions at high COS concentrations by various

analytical techniques confirmed the conclusions from the kinetic experiments. For
all amines except for MEA, the overall reaction rate was found to be determined
entirely by the zwitterion deprotonation rate.

Introduction
In process industry, basic alkanolamine solutions are used
frequently to remove acidic components such as H2S, COS,
and C02, from natural and refinery gases. Industrially important alkanolamines for this operation are the primary amines
monoethanolamine (MEA) and diglycolamine (DGA), the secondary amines diethanolamine (DEA) and diisopropanolamine
(DIPA), and the tertiary amine N-methyldiethanolamine
(MDEA). Usually these alkanolamines are applied in aqueous
solutions, but combined solvents like water and sulfolane in
the Shell Sulfinol process are used also (Kohl and Riesenfeld,
1985). Much research has been focused on the selective absorption of sulfur compounds, particularly H2S, because simultaneous removal of C 0 2 often is not preferred both from
technical and economical points of view.
The reaction between H2S and alkanolamines can be considered instantaneous with respect to mass transfer, whereas
the reaction between C 0 2 and alkanolamines is a finite rate
reaction. Consequently, improvement of H2S selectivity can,
among others, be achieved by applying an alkanolamine which
reacts relatively slow with C02. This explains the increasing
Present address of R. J . Littel: Koninklijke/Shell Lahoratorium Amsterdam, P.O. Box
3003, 1003 AA Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

244

popularity of tertiary and sterically hindered (secondary) alkanolamines for selective H2Sabsorption. However, COS reacts
much slower with alkanolamines than CO,. As a result, an
increase in H2S selectivity is usually accompanied by a decrease
in COS absorption capacity. Eventually, the attainable sulfur
selectivity is limited by this decrease in COS removal because
the treating target is a total sulfur specification. Obviously,
thorough knowledge of reaction mechanism and kinetics for
the reaction between COS and alkanolamines is necessary for
an adequate design of gas treating plants.
Data for the reaction of COS with primary and secondary
alkanolamines are very scarce in literature. Sharma (1965) presented some kinetic data for C 0 2and COS with various amines
and concluded that C 0 2and COS follow similar reaction mechanisms, with COS reacting about a factor 100 slower. He,
however, carried out kinetic experiments at only one amine
concentration. Recently, Singh and Bullin (1988) reported some
data for the reaction between COS and DGA over a temperature range of 307 to 322 K. From their experiments they
concluded that the overall reaction rate was first order in the
COS concentration and first order in the DGA concentration.
In the present work, the reaction of COS with primary and
secondary amines has been studied extensively by means of

February 1992 Vol. 38, No. 2

AIChE Journal

the stirred cell reactor technique. Kinetic experiments at temperatures ranging from 283 to 333 K were carried out with
aqueous solutions of MEA, DGA, DEA, DIPA, methylmonoethanolamine (MMEA), 2-amino-2-methyl-1-propanol
(AMP), and morpholine (MOR). Amine solutions at high COS
loadings were analyzed with various analytical techniques to
provide additional confirmation for the findings from the kinetic experiments.

Literature
The reaction of COS with primary and secondary amines in
aqueous solutions has received very little attention in literature.
Sharma (1965) carried out absorption experiments of C 0 2 and
COS into aqueous solutions of various amines at 298 K and
concluded from his experiments that C 0 2 and COS react similarly with amines. He observed a reaction rate for COS which
was about a factor 100 lower than that for COz. Although the
experiments of Sharma (1965) seem valid, it should be noted
that for each amine experiments were carried out at only one
concentration (1,000 m ~ i . m - ~ ) .
Recently, Singh and Bullin (1988) reported kinetic data for
the reaction of COS with aqueous solutions of diglycolamine
over a temperature range of 307 to 322 K. They carried out
absorption experiments in a continuously operated gas-liquid
contactor which was designed to simulate a single tray in an
absorption column. COS and other components in the amine
solutions were analyzed by means of a GC technique. From
their experiments, Singh and Bullin (1988) concluded that the
overall reaction was single order in both the COS and amine
concentrations. Their interpretation method, however, did not
allow for broken reaction orders.
Rahman et al. (1989) analyzed anhydrous amines loaded
with COS by means of 'H and "C NMR. From their spectra
they concluded that thiocarbamates were formed in the case
of MEA, DEA and DGA, whereas the thiocarbamate salt of
DIPA could not be positively ascertained. However, some
remarks must be presented with respect to the work of Rahman
et al. (1989). It is probably not completely correct to compare
spectra for pure amine and loaded amine to each other if these
spectra have been obtained with different solvents: in general,
the place of a peak and even the occurrence of a peak may
differ considerably for different solvents. Moreover, the large
difference in noise level between I3C NMR spectra for pure
amines and those for loaded amines seems peculiar and may
even lead to artificial peaks.
Experimental work on the cleavage of monothiocarbamates
(Ewing et al., 1980; MilIican et al., 1983) suggests a zwitterion
mechanism for the reaction between COS and primary and
secondary amines. For the reaction of C 0 2 with these amines,
the zwitterion mechanism is widely accepted (see, for example,
Caplow, 1968; Danckwerts, 1979; Blauwhoff et al., 1984; Versteeg and van Swaaij, 1988a, Versteeg and Oyevaar, 1989;
Littel et al., 1992a,b). In the case of COS, a zwitterion reaction
mechanism would be given by Eqs. 1 and 2.

cos + R,NH 2 R ~ N Hcos-

(1)

k-i

R2NH'COS-

+ B 2 R2NCOS- + BH'
k-b

(2)

This mechanism comprises two steps: formation of the COSAIChE Journal

amine zwitterion (reaction l), followed by base-catalyzed deprotonation of this zwitterion (reaction 2). In principle, any
base present in solution will contribute to the deprotonation
of the zwitterion.
Considering the very limited information in open literature,
additional experimental information is necessary to determine
the validity of the zwitterion mechanism for the reaction between COS and primary and secondary amines. Therefore, in
the present work kinetic experiments at various temperatures
were carried out with aqueous solutions of various primary
and secondary amines.

Experimental Studies
All kinetic experiments were carried out in a thermostatted
stirred cell reactor with a flat, horizontal gas-liquid interface.
The stirred-cell reactor was operated batchwise with respect to
both gas and liquid phase. The pressure decrease, measured
by a pressure transducer which was connected to an Apple IIe
computer, was recorded as a function of time. Experimental
setup and procedure have been described in more detail by,
for example, Blauwhoff et al. (1984).
Based on mass balances for both gas and liquid phase, the
following expression for the carbonyl sulfide flux can be derived:

JCOS

pcos

= mCoSkL,c o E
~E

(3)

The enhancement factor E is equal to Ha if pseudo-first-order

conditions are fulfilled:
3 <Ha<< E"

(4)

with:

Ha = 4 G i

kL,cos

The reaction between COS and amines is reversible and,

strictly speaking, Eq. 6 is valid only for irreversible reactions.
However, low amine conversions in combination with high
equilibrium constants as encountered in the present work validate sufficiently the application of Eq. 6 . The observed reaction rates and the applied COS pressures were low and,
consequently, condition 4 could be fulfilled easily. From the
work of Thompson et al. (1935) and Philipp and Dautzenberg
(1965), it could be concluded that the contribution of the reaction between COS and OH- to the overall reaction rate was
negligible.
Since COS reacts with amine solutions, it is not possible in
general to determine its solubility and diffusivity directly. The
COS solubility was determined based on a COS-N20 analogy
(Littel et al., 1992~).The diffusivity of COS in amine solutions
can be obtained from the COS diffusivity in water using the
modified Stokes-Einstein relationship reported by Versteeg and
van Swaaij (1988b). Since no reliable data on the temperature

February 1992 Vol. 38, No. 2

245

Table 1. Viscosity and N20Solubility Data for Aqueous Amine Solutions at 283 K
MEA
[MEAI
[moI.m-]
194
204
206
393
391
392
789
782
782
1,588
1,619
1,621
2,414
2,422
2,425
3,243
3,162
3,163

DGA

mNzO

[lo3 ~ a . s ]
1.36
0.877
0.891
1.41
0.892
0.882
1.53
0.881
0.864
1.81
0.864
0.869
2.17
0.844
0.832
2.63
0.819
0.81 1

[DW
[moI.m-]

DEA

IDEA1
[mo~.m-]

mNzO

[lo3 Pa.s]
1.41

218
199
200
408
435
437
795
847
847
1,555
1,667
1,676
2,463
2,527
2,553
3,332
3,112
3,147

187
210
212
372
387
389
760
76 1
767
1,532
1,536
1,541
2,393
2,367
2,373
3,265
3,161
3,169

0.900
0.897
1.51
0.860
0.890
1.76
0.849
0.855
2.39
0.800
0.771
3.57
0.719
0.715
4.99
0.671
0.663

dependence are available in literature, the COS diffusivity in

water at various temperatures was estimated from the COS
diffusivity at 298 K reported by Littel et al. (1992c), assuming
the same activation energy as reported by Versteeg and Swaaij
(1988b) for C02. Viscosity and N 2 0 solubility data for amine
solutions used in the present work are presented in Table 1 or
were reported by Littel et al. (1992~).
For all kinetic experiments, COS pressures and amine loadings were typically 0.001-0.010 MPa and 1-10%, respectively.
MEA, DEA, MMEA, AMP, and MOR were obtained from
Janssen Chimica, DIPA was obtained from Riedel-de Haen,
and DGA was provided by Texaco Chemical Company. All
amines were at least 99% pure and used as received. COS with
a minimum purity of 97.5% was obtained from UCAR.

ResuIts
Kinetic Experiments
The reaction between COS and the primary alkanolamines

mNzO

[lo3 ~ a . s ]
1.41
0.886
0.868
1.55
0.879
0.882
1.79
0.874
0.859
2.52
0.834
0.840
3.84
0.778
0.778
6.17
0.717
0.705

MEA and DGA has been studied in aqueous solutions as a

function of temperature. For MEA, kinetic experiments were
carried out at 283, 303 and 333 K; the reaction of COS with
DGA was studied at 283, 303 and 318 K. The experimental
data are presented in Figures 1 and 2 for MEA and DGA,
respectively. These figures show that a broken reaction order
in amine was observed for all temperatures investigated. This
reaction order in amine was found to be unaffected by temperature within experimental accuracy. For MEA the reaction
order in amine was about 1.4, whereas for DGA is was about
1.6. The experimental data in Figures 1 and 2 show a definite
influence of temperature on the overall reaction rate.
The reaction between COS and various secondary amines
has been investigated in aqueous solutions. The reaction of
COS and DEA was studied at 283, 303 and 333 K, whereas
kinetic experiments of COS with DIPA, MMEA, AMP, and
MOR were carried out at 303 K. The measured overall reaction
rate constants are plotted against the amine concentration in
Figures 3 to 5. For all secondary amines investigated, a reaction
order in amine of almost 2 was observed. The overall reaction

lo3
l o 2 i

lo2 7

app
S

-1

lox 7
10 7
loo 7

1 0 -1

lo2

lo3

lo4

[MEAI
rnol m

0
lo2

-3

1
lo3

1
104

[DGA]

Figure 1. Experimental results for aqueous MEA solutions.

246

= 318 K
* T = 303 K
CIT = 283 K

loo

-3

mol rn
Figure 2. Experimental results for DGA solutions.

February 1992 Vol. 38, No. 2

AIChE Journal

lQ3

k
S

-1

o T = 333 K

10

T = 303 K
n T=283K

lo4

lo3

102

IDEA1

mol m

-3

-3

Figure 3. Experimental results for aqueous DEA solutions.

rate of COS with DEA showed a significant dependence on
temperature.
Close inspection of Figures 1 to 5 shows that the observed
first-order apparent reaction rate constants deviate systematically at the highest amine concentrations. This must probably
be attributed to a tendency of the COS-N20 analogy to underestimate the COS solubility at higher amine concentrations.
Littel et al. (1992~)showed for aqueous ethyleneglycol and
aqueous sulfolane solutions that this COS-N20analogy is valid
only for dilute aqueous solutions up to about 20 wt. To. For
the present kinetic experiments, this limit appears to have been
violated at the highest amine concentrations for the bulkier
amines. Therefore, these experiments were not taken into account in the calculation of kinetic rate constants from the
observed overall rate constants.
For all amines investigated, a reaction order in amine between 1 and 2 has been obseryed. From the COS pressure
decrease as a function of time, it could be concluded that the
reaction order in COS was 1. These observed reaction orders
can be described by the zwitterion reaction mechanism (reactions 1 and 2), and apparently the overall reaction rate is,
at least partially, determined by the zwitterion deprotonation

lo3
10

DIPA
OAMP

8
1

[R,NHl
-3

mol m
Figure 4. Experimental results for aqueous DIPA and
AMP solutions at 303 K.
AIChE Journal

mol m
Figure 5. Experimental results for aqueous MMEA and
MOR solutions at 303 K.
rate. The overall reaction rate was found to increase with
increasing basic strength of the alkanolamine for the amines
with similar compositions (MEA, DGA, DEA, DIPA, and
MMEA). Compared to these amines, the sterically hindered
amine AMP reacts much slower than expected from its basic
strength whereas the cyclic amine MOR reacts much faster.

Chemical analyses
To obtain additional confirmation for the findings of the
kinetic experiments, amine samples with about 10 wt. To water
were heavily loaded with COS (2-10 wt.0lo S) and analyzed by
means of chemical analysis techniques. Techniques used were:
'H and I3C NMR, GLC, MS and element analysis.
GLC and NMR analysis of the loaded MEA and MMEA
samples showed significant amounts of degradation products.
For MEA, the observed degradation products were well in line
with the degradation mechanism suggested by Pearce et al.
(1961) and Berlie et al. (1965). In the case of MMEA, the
degradation products could not be identified. For DEA and
AMP, no significant differences between NMR spectra for
loaded and unloaded samples were observed. All these observations seem to agree with the proposed zwitterion reaction
mechanism, because the NMR technique is rather insensitive
to differences between reactants and products postulated by
this mechanism.
In loading the MOR sample with COS, a white salt crystallized, which was well soluble in water. The MS spectrum of
this salt showed a peak with a bruto molecular weight of 147,
which corresponded to a bruto molecule formula of C,H9NS02.
Element analysis of the water-free salt yielded a bruto molecule
formula of C8,7H16,1N1,9S02.9.
The NMR spectra of this salt
solved in D 2 0showed the presence of a loosely bound complex,
which could not be identified unambiguously. The analysis by
means of GLC showed only MOR, probably as a result of
disintegration of the salt due to the conditions applied in GLC.
Considering all chemical analyses, the most likely composition
of the obtained salt is presented in Figure 6 , which shows a
complex of thiocarbamate and protonated amine. In loading
a MOR sample with C 0 2 also a white salt crystallized, and
analysis of this salt indicated a similar composition as that
given in Figure 6.

February 1992 Vol. 38. No. 2

247

,CH2-CH
\2

\ CH2-

CH,

Figure 6. Composition of crystallization product from

concentrated MOR solution at high COS concentrations.

In summarizing the results from the analysis of amine samples heavily loaded with COS, it can be concluded that no
evidence was obtained which contradicts the zwitterion mechanism, whereas the observations for MOR clearly support this
mechanism. Since MEA and MMEA were shown to be strongly
susceptible to degradation by COS, they seem to be unsuitable
for COS removal. This susceptibility to degradation by COS
did not hamper the kinetic experiments with MEA and MMEA,
as only low amine conversions were applied and fresh amine
solutions were used in those experiments.

Strictly speaking, all bases present in solution will contribute

to the deprotonation of the zwitterion (including OH-). However, the contribution of bases other than HzOand the amine
itself was found to be negligible without loss of accuracy. The
observed apparent reaction rate constants were fitted to reaction rate expression 7 by means of a Levenberg-Marquardt
fitting procedure. The fitted reaction rate constants are summarized in Table 2.
The zwitterion formation rate constant could be determined
only for MEA; for all other amines, the overall reaction rate
was determined entirely by the zwitterion deprotonation rate.
This zwitterion deprotonation rate was found to be determined
primarily by the contribution of amine as can also be concluded
from the observed reaction order in amine which was almost
2 for most amines. For DEA at 283 K and DIPA at 303 K,
the contribution of H 2 0to the zwitterion deprotonation rate
was too small to determine values for the zwitterion deprotonation rate constants by HzO.
Both zwitterion deprotonation rate constants were observed
to increase with temperature. This temperature influence is
given by Eqs. 8 to 10 and by Figures 7 and 8 which show
Arrhenius plots for the deprotonation rate constants by amine
and water, respectively.

Discussion

MEA:

The kinetic experiments and the analysis of aqueous amine

samples loaded with COS suggest strongly that the reaction
between COS and primary or secondary amines can be described by the zwitterion reaction mechanism given by reactions
1 and 2. If pseudo-steady-state conditions are assumed for the
COS-amine zwitterion concentration, the following expression
can be derived for the overall forward reaction rate:

DGA:

with:
Table 2. Fitted Reaction Rate Constants
Amine
MEA
MEA
MEA
DGA
DGA
DGA
DEA
DEA
DEA
DIPA
MMEA
AMP
MOR

T
IKI

pKa

283
303
333
283
303
318
283
303
333
303
303
303
303

9.98
9.36
8.56
9.90
9.31
8.98
9.27
8.75
8.10
8.76
9.64
9.52
8.24"

Apparent Reaction
Order in Amine'

k2
[m3.mol-' .s-']

1.5

1.3
1.3
1.7
1.5
1.4
2.0
1.8
1.9
2.0
1.8
1.8
1.8

lo' kR2NH
[rn6.mol-'. s- '1

lo7 k H p
[m6.mole2.s-*]

2.5
3.8
6.4
0.29
1.5

0.23
1.6
19
0.18
1.6
7.0

5.1

0.21
0.68
4.3
0.35
15
0.089
15

0.16
0.67

6.2
0.050
5.1

Approximate error bounds: + O . l .

Estimated from pKu value at 298 K.

248

February 1992 Vol. 38, No. 2

AIChE Journal

Table 3. Comparison Between Work of Sharma (1965) and

Present Work

10-43

2.9

3.0

3.1

3.2

3.3

3.4

3.5

3.6

1000 K

T
Figure 7. Arrhenius plot for the zwitterion deprotonation
rate constants by amine.

DEA :

It is remarkable that the activation temperature for the

kRINH
shows a large variation for the different amines, whereas
the activation temperature for the kH20is almost identical for
all three amines. It should be realized, however, that the deprotonation rate constants are a combination of three elementary rate constant (see expression 7) and that therefore no
a priori statements can be made concerning the activation
temperature for the combined reaction rate constants. For the
reaction between CO, and secondary amines, the deprotonation rate constants were even fdund to be almost independent
of temperature (Littel et al., 1992b).
Sharma (1965) presented kinetic data, obtained in a stirred
cell reactor, for various amines at 298 K. However, he carried
out experiments only at one amine concentration (1,000
mol.m-') and assumed that the physical data needed for the
interpretation of the kinetic experiments were equal to those
in water. Nevertheless, a comparison has been made between
the kinetic data reported by Sharma (1965) at 298 K and the

'"7

OMEA

DGA

k
"20

-2 - 1

m rnol s

2.9

3.0

3.1

3.2

3.3

3.4

3.5

3.6

1000 K
T

Figure 8. Arrhenius plot for the zwitterion deprotonation

rate constants by HzO.

AIChE Journal

Amine

Sharma (1965)'
ka,, Is-']

Present Work**
k,,, Is-']

MEA
DEA
DIPA
MMEA
AMP
MOR

16

18.2

11
5.6

220
4.5

220

7.6
3.5
182
1.1
176

*T=298K, [Arn]=1,000m0f.m~~
" T = 3 0 3 K, [Am]=l,000rnol.m-'

present data at 303 K. Table 3 shows that the agreement between the apparent reaction rate constants at 1,000 mol.m-3
amine obtained in both works is very acceptable.
Singh and Bullin (1988) carried out kinetic experiments in
a continuously operated gas-liquid contactor for aqueous solutions of DGA at temperatures ranging from 307 to 322 K.
The progression of the reaction was followed by means of GC
analysis of the composition of the amine solutions. They reported a single-order behavior in both COS and amine concentrations, although it should be noted that their interpretation
method did not allow for broken reaction orders. This firstorder behavior in amine is in contradiction with the present
work. Also the overall reaction rates presented by Singh and
Bullin (1988) are substantially lower than those observed for
DGA in the present work. The reasons for these discrepancies
are hard to clarify because the work of Singh and Bullin (1988)
lacks information on the actually measured reaction rates as
a function of amine concentration. Moreover, Singh and Bullin
(1988) report that the bruto C 0 2 concentrations present in
solution were found to be negligible, whereas significant bruto
concentrations of H2S were observed. Since H2S and CO, are
produced in equal amounts by the disintegration of COS, this
discrepancy possibly indicates significant desorption of CO,
which might have obscured the kinetic experiments of Singh
and Bullin (1988).
The present kinetic data obtained for the reaction between
COS and primary or secondary amines can be compared to
the kinetic data for CO, as reported by Versteeg and van Swaaij
(1988a), Bosch et al. (1990), and Littel et al. (1991b). For the
nonhindered alkanolamines (MEA, DGA, DEA, DIPA, and
MMEA), the observed reaction rates for COS are in general
roughly a factor 100 lower than the reaction rates for CO,.
The reaction order in amine for COS, however, is usually
higher than that for CO,, indicating that the overall reaction
rate for COS is much more limited by the zwitterion deprotonation rate. The zwitterion deprotonation rate for the COSamine zwitterion was observed to increase considerably with
increasing temperature, whereas the deprotonation rate of the
C0,-amine zwitterion appears to be almost independent of
temperature (Littel et al., 1991b). Since all bases present in
solution will contribute to the zwitterion deprotonation, the
application of blends of tertiary and secondary or primary
amines might be beneficial for selective COS removal. Also
relatively high amine concentrations, which lead to higher ratios of COS and C 0 2 solubilities, seem to promote COS removal.
Sterically hindered secondary amines like AMP appear to
be suitable for selective H2S removal (Sartori et al., 1987).

February 1992 Vol. 38, No. 2

249

However, the difference between the reaction rates of COS

and of C 0 2 with aqueous AMP solutions (Bosch et al., 1990)
is substantially larger than for the nonhindered amines, indicating that sterically hindered secondary amines are probably
not suitable for selective COS removal. The cyclic amine MOR
reacts relatively fast with COS in relation to its basic strength,
but it was found to react fast also with C 0 2 (Littel et al.,
1991b).

The reaction between COS and aqueous solutions of primary

and secondary amines has been studied by means of the stirred
cell technique. Kinetic experiments at temperatures ranging
from 283 to 333 K were carried out with MEA, DGA, DEA,
DIPA, MMEA, AMP, and MOR.
All kinetic experiments could be described by a zwitterion
mechanism similar to the zwitterion mechanism proposed by
Caplow (1968) for the reaction between C 0 2 and secondary
amines. Analysis of concentrated amine solutions at high COS
concentrations by means of various analytical techniques confirmed the conclusions from the kinetic experiments. For all
amines except for MEA, the overall reaction rate was found
to be entirely determined by the zwitterion deprotonation rate.
Solutions of MEA and MMEA were found to be susceptible
to amine degradation and seem therefore not suitable for COS
removal. Also solutions of sterically hindered secondary amines
like AMP seem to be unsuited to selective COS removal due
to the very low reaction rates of AMP with COS in comparison
to the reaction rates between C 0 2and AMP. For nonhindered
amines, the COS reaction rate with respect to the C 0 2reaction
rate is promoted by higher amine concentrations and higher
temperatures.

Acknowledgment
These investigations were supported by the KoninklijkeLShell Laboratorium, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. We also acknowledge w.
Leppink for the construction of the experimental setup and C. van
der Beek, M. van Dijk, W. Lengton, and H. ter Maat for their part
in the experimental work.

Notation
= diffusivity, m2.s-

E =
E =
Ha =
J =
k,,, =
k,, =
k2 =
kRzNH=

kHzO=
kL =
m =
P =
R =
T =

enhancement factor
maximum enhancement factor (Eq. 6)
Hatta number (Eq. 5)
molar flux, mol.m-2.s-I
apparent psuedo-first-order reaction rate constant, s-
overall psuedo-first-order reaction rate constant, szwitterion formation rate constant, m.mol-l.s-l
zwitterion deprotonation constant by amine,
m6. mo1-2. s- I
zwitterion deprotonation constant by water, m6.rnol-*.s-
liquid phase mass transfer coefficient, m.s-l
dimensionless solubility, mol.mol-
pressure, P a
ideal gas constant, 8.314 J.mo1-l.K-l
temperature, T

Greek letters
q = viscosity, Pa.s

250

AMP = 2-amino-2-methyl-1-propanol
DEA = diethanolamine
DGA = diglycolamine, 2-(2-aminoethoxy)ethanol
DIPA = diisopropanolamine
MEA = monoethanolamine
MMEA = methylmonoethanolamine
MOR = morpholine
R,NH = primary or secondary amine

Literature Cited

Conclusions

Amine abbreviations

Berlie, E. M., J. W. Estep, and F. J. Ronicker, Preventing MEA

Degradation, Chem. Eng. Prog., 61, 82 (1965).
Blauwhoff, P. M. M., G. F. Versteeg, and W. P. M. van Swaaij, A
Study on the Reaction Between CO, and Alkanolamines in Aqueous
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Manuscript received July IS, 1991, and revision received Dec. 2, 1991.

February 1992 Vol. 38, No. 2

AIChE Journal