CO2 capture by a supported amino acid ionic liquid

The development of high-efficiency and cost-effective purification processes for the removal of CO2 from flue-gas deriving from fossil-fueled power plants represents one of the most stimulating scientific and technological challenges of the third millennium to face the global climate change. The use of ionic liquids (ILs) for post-combustion CO2 capture is a very attractive option to circumvent amine-based absorbents drawbacks, due to their excellent thermal stability and negligible vapour pressure. Recent literature studies suggest the use of ILs supported onto porous substrates for CO2 capture, when dealing with ILs exhibiting high viscosities and as a strategy to minimize their utilization costs. Neverthless, most of the adsorption studies are generally carried out in pure CO2 streams, not representative of a real flue-gas. This work analyzes the CO2 capture performances of a mesoporous alumina (γ-Al2O3) impregnated with 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium glycinate ([Emim][Gly]) IL, at two different active phase loadings. CO2 adsorption tests on mimicking flue-gas streams were carried out at 303 and 353 K in a fixed-bed column integrated in a lab-scale apparatus.