Insights into Reaction Pathways of Taurine Synthesis from Ethanolamine

Taurine, 2-aminoethane-1-sulfonic acid, is an important amino acid in human and animal nutrition markets. Commercial production of taurine starts with either ethylene oxide (EO) or monoethanolamine (MEA). Due to safety concerns of handling EO, research was focused on exploiting the MEA route. The MEA route is a two-step process, typically performed in batch operations. The first step is the reaction of MEA with sulfuric acid to produce the ester 2-aminoethyl hydrogen sulfate (AES). The second step is the reaction of AES with a sulfite reagent to yield the sulfonic acid product. This presentation summarizes the results of a study of the thermodynamic properties for this two-step MEA-based chemical route to taurine.

Using a reaction calorimeter for reaction monitoring, researchers measured the heat of formation for the addition of sulfuric acid to MEA. Analysis of this process revealed that two key, separate reactions occur: neutralization of the amine functionality and subsequent protonation of the hydroxyl group. These two reactions were further monitored using FTIR spectroscopy to collect benchmark spectra and monitor the process in situ. FTIR spectroscopy was used to quantify these and other analytes for downstream processing. Information in this presentation is highlighted as part of a larger study published as “Continuous Process for the Production of Taurine from Monoethanolamine” in Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research.

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