Lc-ms method for analyzing carbon capture solvents and their degradation products

A method comprising:

• providing a sample of a solution produced by a carbon capture operation, wherein the solution comprises a carbon capture solvent and degradation products of the carbon capture solvent produced by the carbon capture operation;
• diluting the sample via a serial dilution wherein a diluent of a final dilution is buffered to a pH of at least 9, using a diluent wherein the diluent and a mobile phase use a same buffer system and have the same composition, and wherein the dilution is sufficient to ensure the carbon capture solvent and degradation products are in a pre-determined range for analysis and detection by a hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography (HILIC) system coupled with a detector;
• calibrating the detector with a tuning mix comprising compounds with chemical structure similarities to the carbon capture solvent and degradation products;
• obtaining fractions of the solution by separating the sample with the HILIC system, wherein the HILIC system comprises a stationary phase and the mobile phase;
• identifying the carbon capture solvent and degradation products in the solution produced by the carbon capture operation based on matching a retention time with a retention time of a set of standards;
• verifying an identity by matching properties measured by the detector of the sample compared to the set of standards wherein the properties are selected from the group consisting of a molecular weight, a mass spectrum, an UV spectrum, an amount of light scattered, a conductivity, or an electrical signal;
• and
• measuring the fractions to determine a concentration of the carbon capture solvent and the degradation products using extracted ion chromatogram extraction.