GC-MS analysis of alkylpyrazines in the pyrolysis oils of silica-polyethylenimine CO2 sorbents

Coralli, Irene; Spada, Lorenzo; Fabbri, Daniele; Pour, Seyedeh Rojin Sahriati; Fiori, Jessica; Vassura, Ivano; Stefanidis, Stelios; Lappas, Angelos; Stevens, Lee A.; Snape, Colin E.

Abstract

Solid sorbents based on silica and polyethyleneimine (PEI) are intensively investigated in the field of carbon capture and storage (CCS). Pyrolysis was proposed as a thermal process to recover the pure silica from exhausted sorbents and convert PEI into potentially useful products, such as alkylated pyrazines. A GC-MS method based on internal standardisation with 2-methoxypyrazine was developed and evaluated to determine the concentration of six pyrazines in the pyrolysis oils of exhausted silica-PEI sorbent pyrolysed at 400, 500, 600 and 650°C. The most abundant pyrazines were 2-ethyl and 2,3-dimethyl, occurring at concentrations of 5-28 mg g−1, followed by pyrazine, 2-methyl, 2-ethyl-3-methyl and 2-propylpyrazine. The GC-MS results were compared to those from a HPLC-DAD method using the Welch's test. The 37 % discrepancy of concentrations was attributed to spectral interference in LC-DAD. GC was slightly less precise than HPLC, calibration errors were lower and enabled the identification of highly alkylated pyrazines. Both methods provided comparable values of total pyrazine yields (around 4-7 % by weight).

Citation

Coralli, I., Spada, L., Fabbri, D., Pour, S. R. S., Fiori, J., Vassura, I., …Snape, C. E. (2024). GC-MS analysis of alkylpyrazines in the pyrolysis oils of silica-polyethylenimine CO2 sorbents. Journal of Chromatography Open, 5, Article 100108. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcoa.2023.100108

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Nov 27, 2023
• Online Publication Date: Nov 28, 2023
• Publication Date: 2024-05
• Deposit Date: Jan 8, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 9, 2024
• Journal: Journal of Chromatography Open
• Electronic ISSN: 2772-3917
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 5
• Article Number: 100108
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcoa.2023.100108
• Keywords: Gas chromatography; Mass spectrometry; UV absorption; Carbon capture; Polyethylenimine
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/28133141
• Publisher URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2772391723000324?via%3Dihub
• Additional Information: This article is maintained by: Elsevier; Article Title: GC–MS analysis of alkylpyrazines in the pyrolysis oils of silica-polyethylenimine CO2 sorbents; Journal Title: Journal of Chromatography Open; CrossRef DOI link to publisher maintained version: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcoa.2023.100108; Content Type: article; Copyright: © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.