Co2 capture via amine-co2 product phase separation

A method for separating carbon dioxide from a gas stream, comprising:

• contacting a gas stream containing CO2 in a sorption zone with a sorption solution comprising a sterically hindered amine, the sorption solution having a total amine concentration of at least about 2.5 M, at a temperature of at least 10° C. to sorb at least a portion of the CO2 into the sorption solution and form a rich stream of the sorbed CO2 in the sorption solution comprising one or more amine-CO2 reaction products dissolved in the solution;
• passing the rich stream from the sorption zone to a second zone and precipitating at least a portion of the amine-CO2 reaction products to form a precipitate slurry;
• separating the precipitate slurry to form a portion enriched in precipitate solids and a first recycle stream, the first recycle stream comprising a majority of the solvent from the precipitate slurry, at least 80 wt % of the precipitate solids comprising a bicarbonate salt;
• and
• passing the portion enriched in precipitate solids to one or more regeneration zones and desorbing the sorbed CO2 as gas to form a second recycle stream, the second recycle portion containing a lower concentration of CO2 than the rich stream and containing an increased concentration of sterically hindered amine relative to the rich stream,
• wherein the sorption solution comprises at least a portion of the first recycle stream and at least a portion of the second recycle stream.