Tuning basic poly(ionic liquid) solutions towards atmospheric pressure CO2 capture

Abstract

Ionic liquids and poly(ionic liquid)s are interesting materials for CO2 capture, however, the deployment of their industrial application has been delayed on account of economic and technical issues that demand further optimization. The control over viscosity has serious consequences over the process, therefore, this work is focused on the study of imidazolium and pyrrolidinium-derived ILs and PILs with basic anions, such as acetate, hydroxide, and imidazolate that were synthesized and characterized by NMR, ATR-FTIR, TGA, and DSC. Different solvents and concentrations were tested in the preparation of PIL and IL solutions, which were used to capture CO2 by bubbling this gas at room temperature and atmospheric pressure (1 atm). The evaluation of the CO2 sorption capacity of each sample was carried out through the analysis of quantitative 13C NMR. The poly(1-vinyl-3- ethylimidazolium) acetate showed and sorption capacity of 5.68 mmol CO2/g PIL, and also the capacity to capture CO2 from exhaust gas mixture and the possibility to be recycled at least 5 times.