Biological treatment of amine wastes generated in post combustion CO2 capture

The wastes generation by amine degradation is an important issue to be addressed when considering CCS schemes. Biological treatment of amine wastes can be a strategy with reasonable economy and envrironmental sustainability. Both the aerobic and anaerobic wastewater treatment techniques can be used for amine wastes treatment, providing culture adaption and maintaining suitable operating conditions. Aerobic treatment can, generally, provide higher biodegradation rates while anaerobic processes can be much more energy efficient. A combination of aerobic and anaerobic treatment is promising. Addition of a supplementary organic feed may facilitate the anaerobic treatment is promising. Addition of a supplementary organic feed may facilitate the anaerobic digestion of amine wastes and this opens the possibility of using common industrial or municipal waste digesters for amine wastes treatment. (C) 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd.