(173a) Effect of Ionic Liquid Confinement On CO2 Solubility and Transport

Room temperature ionic liquids (RTIL) are salts consisting of a bulky cation and an inorganic anion with melting point below 100°C. Ongoing work in our laboratory has focused on examining the potential of these unique fluids  for post combustion carbon capture processes. Experimental work has involved  measurements of carbon dioxide solubility and diffusivity in different ionic liquids in bulk phase and when confined within a ceramic membrane support. Carbon dioxide and nitrogen permeation through supported ionic liquid membranes (SILMs) prepared using anodic alumina films as the support membrane has also been measured. More recently, properties of unconfined ionic liquids and ionic liquids near a solid interface have been simulated using Materials Studio.

Experimental results reveal that both carbon dioxide solubility and diffusivity are larger in ionic liquids confined within a porous support when compared to bulk phase properties. These results are consistent with our results from gas permeation measurements through SILM systems, which show measured carbon dioxide permeability to be larger than permeability predicted from bulk phase properties.

In this presentation, our results will be discussed in the context of other literature reports of SILM separations  with different type of support membranes, with molecular simulations of RTIL characteristics near a solid interface and with reports of enhanced carbon dioxide solubility with confinement of non-ionic solvents.