(335u) CO2 Capture Using Supported Ionic Liquids

The removal of carbon dioxide from process streams, such as power plant emissions and sour natural gas, is a key step in reducing carbon emission for existing energy infrastructure. Many technologies for capturing CO2 from process streams utilizing both physical or chemical absorption and adsorption exist, but one of the most promising is the use of Lewis-basic ionic liquids. Ionic liquids with a high CO2 affinity are especially attractive as they have vanishingly low vapor pressure and will not be stripped away by the process stream.

We have examined the feasibility of a series of Lewis-basic ionic liquids to serve as CO2 absorbents when supported on silica particles in a packed-bed absorber. The ionic liquids were deposited on the silica surface via evaporative deposition from a volatile solvent and the silica particles were loaded into the packed bed absorber. We measured characteristic parameters of the pack-bed bed absorber such a breakthrough time and maximum CO2 uptake or several CO2/N2 mixtures over a range of temperatures. Both the inlet and bed temperatures were controlled, along with the flow rates of the gases and the effluent gases were measured via gas chromatography. We present the results of these experiments, as well as scale-up calculations.