Amino acid ionic liquids (AAILs)
exhibit prominent merits
for CO2 capture including biocompatibility and good stability,
but
they still suffer from several demerits, such as high viscosity and
low molecular utilization. Therefore, it is critical to construct
proper systems that can address these problems to enhance CO2 absorption of AAILs. In this work, three types of AAIL absorbent
systems, DMEE (2-[2-(dimethylamino) ethoxy] ethanol)–AAIL,
H2O–AAIL, and EG (ethylene glycol)–AAIL,
are prepared with six AAILs that have different amino acids. The absorption
performance of these absorbents is characterized to investigate the
reinforcing effects of the additives on the absorption properties
of AAILs. With temperatures ranging from 293 to 313 K, the CO2 capture studies on the binary systems reveal that AAILs present
better absorption efficiency when their concentrations are 40 or 50
wt %. Based on the zwitterion reaction mechanism model and a thermodynamic
model, the interactions of AAILs with H2O, DMEE, and EG
systems for absorbing CO2 are discussed, respectively.
The results obtained in this work indicate that AAIL–DMEE systems
are promising candidates for CO2 capture since the interaction
between AAILs and DMEE increases the capacity of AAILs and promotes
kinetics.