Amino Acids Modified with Nitrilotriacetic Acid as Kinetic Promoters for CO2 Hydrate Formation
摘要
Hydrate-based CO2 capture and storage (HCCS) is a promising approach for the safe and energy efficient handling of carbon dioxide. However, its practical implementation is hindered by the inherently slow kinetics of hydrate formation. To address this limitation, we investigated a new class of biocompatible, non-foaming kinetic promoters based on modified amino acids and nitrilotriacetic acid (NTA+AA), effective at low concentrations (0.05 wt%). The performance of these compounds was compared with that of the conventional surfactant sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and with unmodified amino acids such as methionine, norleucine, glutamic acid and tryptophan. High-pressure autoclave experiments under dynamic stirring conditions demonstrated that most NTA+AA compounds exhibited significantly shorter induction times, higher water-to-hydrate conversion, and increased CO2 uptake compared to both SDS and the parent amino acids. The most favorable results were observed for the NTA+Met system, which showed an induction time of 34 minutes, a time to reach 90% conversion of 95 minutes, a CO2 uptake of 0.086 mol/mol, and a water-to-hydrate conversion of 56.2%. These values exceeded those obtained for SDS and unmodified methionine. Notably, all NTA+AA solutions remained foam-free under vigorous stirring and during hydrate dissociation, offering a considerable practical advantage over traditional surfactants. The NTA+Nva promoter also demonstrated high efficiency (57.4% conversion, 0.088 mol/mol CO2 uptake), albeit with a slightly slower hydrate growth rate. Overall, NTA+Met can be considered one of the most effective and environmentally benign kinetic promoters for CO2 hydrate formation among the compounds evaluated in this study.