Ab initio study of CO2 capture mechanisms in aqueous monoethanolamine: reaction pathways for the direct interconversion of carbamate and bicarbonate.

Ab initio molecular orbital calculations combined with the polarizable continuum model (PCM) formalism have been carried out for a comprehensive understanding of the mechanism of carbon dioxide (CO2) absorption by aqueous amine solutions. CO2 is captured by amines to generate carbamates and bicarbonate. We have examined the direct interconversion pathways of these two species (collectively represented by a reversible hydrolysis of carbamate) with the prototypical amine, monoethanolamine (MEA). We evaluate both a concerted and a stepwise mechanism for the neutral hydrolysis of MEA carbamate. Large activation energies (ca. 36 kcal/mol) and lack of increase in catalytic efficiency with the inclusion of additional water molecules are predicted in both the mechanisms. We also examined the mechanism of alkaline hydrolysis of MEA carbamate at high concentrations of amine (high pH). The addition of OH(-) ion to carbamate anion was theoretically not allowed due to the reduction in the nucleophilicity of the former as a result of microsolvation. We propose an alternative pathway for hydrolysis: a proton transfer from protonated MEA to carbamate to generate the carbamic acid that initially undergoes a nucleophilic addition of OH(-) and subsequent low-barrier reactions leading to the formation of bicarbonate and free MEA. On the basis of the calculated activation energies, this pathway would be the most efficient route for the direct interconversion of carbamate and bicarbonate without the intermediacy of the free CO2, while the actual contributions will be dependent on the concentrations of protonated MEA and OH(-) ions.