Reversible absorption of SO2 by amino acid aqueous solutions.

Six water-soluble amino acids (glycine, l-α-alanine, dl-alanine, β-alanine, proline and arginine) aqueous solutions were applied to remove SO(2) from SO(2)-N(2) system in this report. All the tested amino acids solutions were found to be excellent absorbents for SO(2) removal, and SO(2) saturation uptake of β-alanine solution was the highest under the same experimental conditions. The effects of amino acid concentration, SO(2) concentration, absorption temperature, desorption temperature and initial pH value of the absorbent on the removal of SO(2) were investigated with β-Ala solution. The experimental results showed that SO(2) saturation uptake increased with the increase in β-alanine solution and SO(2) concentration. Room temperature (20-30°C) was found to be optimal for SO(2) absorption. Additionally the SO(2) desorption capacity increased with increasing desorption temperature. The neutral environment pH value of 6.8 was found to be optimal for SO(2) removal. Ten continuous absorption-desorption cycles showed that the absorbent had an excellent regeneration performance. (13)C NMR and ultraviolet analyses offer ample evidence to speculate that the bonding between SO(2) and β-alanine was not covalent but some weak interactive forces, such as dispersion force, induction force, dipole-dipole force and hydrogen bond.