(387a) Desorption of Gases from Ionic Liquids Using an Applied Electric Field

Ionic liquids (ILs) are defined as salts which melt at temperatures below 100 ^oC. ILs possess unique properties including negligible vapor pressures and molecular tunability achieved through the selection of the cation and anion with a broad range of applications in reaction engineering and separations processes. Ionic liquids have been extensively developed for selective gas separations using both physical and chemical absorption. However, alternative desorption processes to remove gas from ionic liquids remain largely uninvestigated. Desorption processes require external energy inputs to separate the gas from the ionic liquid. Conventionally this is done by applying thermal energy in the form of heat which in many cases reduces the overall efficiency and economic viability of the process. To lower the required thermal energy, we have studied the effect of applying an electric field to achieve gas desorption from ionic liquids. Preliminary results demonstrate that using electric fields to manipulate the orientation of ions within ionic liquids could be a new method for desorbing gases with industrial relevance to many gas separation processes.