Amidoximes: Promising candidates for CO 2 capture

Monoethanolamine (MEA) dominates power plant carbon dioxide (CO 2) scrubbing processes, though with major disadvantages such as a 8-35% energy penalty. Here we report that structurally comparable amidoximes are promising CO 2 capture agents based on RIMP2 electronic structure calculations. This was experimentally verified by the synthesis and testing of representative amidoximes for capture efficiencies at pressures as high as 180 bar. Acetamidoxime, which has the highest percent amidoxime functionality showed the highest CO 2 capacity (2.71 mmol g -1) when compared to terephthalamidoxime (two amidoximes per molecule) and tetraquinoamidoxime (four amidoximes per molecule). Polyamidoxime surpassed activated charcoal Norit RB3 for CO 2 capture per unit surface area. Adsorption isotherms exhibit Type IV behavior and acetamidoxime found to increase CO 2 capture with temperature, a less observed anomaly. Porous amidoximes are proposed as valuable alternatives to MEA. © 2011 The Royal Society of Chemistry.