Complimentary Theoretical and Experimental Studies: CO2 Capture with Supported Ionic Liquid Membrane

Researchers at NETL have examined techniques for the capture of CO₂ using supported ionic liquids membranes. In this talk, we will show recent molecular simulation and experimental results involving separation of mixtures of CO₂ and H₂ using ionic liquids membranes. Specifically, we will show that

1) The molar volume of the ionic liquid is very important in determining its H₂ solubility. Based on that result, we are focusing on identifying and synthesizing novel ionic liquids which have small molar volume and interact with CO₂ through complexation or chemical reaction. One example ionic liquid will be shown which exhibits very high CO₂/H₂ selectivity and very high CO₂ permeability.

2) Confinements in pores significantly affects ionic liquid properties in separation of CO₂ and H₂. We have found that CO₂ and H₂ permeability and CO₂/H₂ selectivity are improved when the ionic liquid is confined in carbon nanotube.

Although we have made significant progress in finding promising ionic liquids which exhibit high CO₂ permeability and high CO₂/H₂ selectivity, there are still some issues, such as hydrothermal stability and viscosity, to be addressed for this separation technology. These issues will also be discussed in the presentation.