Synthesis, characterization and application of 1-(2-cyanoethyl)-3-(3-methoxypropane)imidazolium bromide for CO₂ capture

Centre of Research in Ionic Liquids (CORIL), Universiti Teknologi Petronas (UTP), Seri Iskandar, 32610, Perak, Malaysia

^* Corresponding author: ravishantini@yahoo.com

Abstract

Amine scrubbing is dominating in carbon dioxide (CO₂) capturing technology because of its high affinity towards CO₂. However, the drawbacks of amine solvents are its high corrosivity and volatility. Ionic liquids (ILs) have gained a lot of attention in recent years for CO₂ capturing and have been proposed to be one of the promising alternative to the conventional solvents. The objective of this research is to design a new imidazolium based ether-nitrile functionalized ionic liquid of low viscosity to improve CO₂ capturing. The molecular structure of the ionic liquid were confirmed by ¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR and FTIR. The thermal properties; glass transition temperature, thermal decomposition temperature, and their physical properties; water content and density were determined. The solubility of CO₂ in the synthesized ionic liquid was measured using pressure drop method. They showed high thermal stability above 200°C and the glass transition temperature was -49.80°C. The CO₂ sorption in the newly synthesized IL was 0.08, 0.12, 0.29, 1.01, 2.30 mol of CO₂/mol of IL at pressures 1, 5, 10, 15 and 20 bar respectively.