Computational Studies on the Reaction between Monoethanolamine and Nitrogen Oxides

摘要

The flue gas emitted by power plants is composed of mainly N2 and CO2 with a small amount of the harmful gases SO2 and NO2. The greenhouse gas CO2 is removed by absorption process using alkanolamines such as monoethanolamine (MEA). SO2 can also be captured by forming a Lewis acid-base complex with amines. While both CO2 and SO2 can form stable adducts with MEA, it should be expected that NO2 would behave differently since it is a paramagnetic gas, and in equilibrium with N2O4 at ambient temperature.