Protic ionic liquids (PILs) have
been suggested as promising solvents
for CO2 capture; however, their high viscosity and consequent
poor mass transfer coefficients hinder their large-scale industrial
application. To overcome this limitation, PILs (neat or encapsulated)
can be incorporated into polymers coated on hollow fiber membranes,
to be implemented in gas–liquid contactor units. However, before
the immobilization of PIL-based solvents on membranes, fundamental
studies on the CO2 sorption process in PILs are still mandatory.
Here, the carboxylate-based PILs’ ability for CO2 absorption was evaluated using an isochoric solubility cell in a
wide range of temperatures (303–343 K) and CO2 partial
pressures (0–0.8 MPa). The experimental data revealed the existence
of a distinct sorption mechanism than that typically observed in other
low-volatile physical solvents, where the solubility was mainly affected
by entropic effects. The soft-SAFT equation of state was further applied
for modeling of the solubility data, which allowed us to infer the
influence of the anion’s structure on the system’s interactions.
Aiming to improve the process kinetics, the PILs were encapsulated
in carbonaceous submicrocapsules, herein proposed as an efficient
material for CO2 separation. To characterize the composition,
morphology, porous structure, and thermal stability of the solvents
used, SEM, TEM, TGA, BET, and elemental analyses were performed. The
adsorption of CO2 on these materials showed that these
materials retained the same sorption capacity as their neat counterparts
and with considerably increased sorption rates. These materials also
retained their performance after various sorption–desorption
cycles and showed fast and complete regeneration and high sorption
capacity, thus indicating their potential for CO2 capture.