A process for recovering carbon dioxide from a gas containing both carbon dioxide and oxygen wherein a carbon dioxide and oxygen containing gas is first contacted with an alkanolamine solution to produce an alkanolamine loaded with carbon dioxide and oxygen, the oxygen is separated from the absorption solution, such as by stripping with a scavenging gas, such as the carbon dioxide containing fluid obtained from the separation of carbon dioxide from the alkanolamine solution or nitrogen, prior to any heating of the absorption solution, and carbon dioxide is steam stripped from the absorption solution and recovered. By stripping the oxygen out of the alkanolamine solution, oxidative degradation of the alkanolamine can be reduced.