Carbon Dioxide Solubilities in Decanoic Acid-Based Hydrophobic Deep Eutectic Solvents.

The solubility of CO2 in hydrophobic deep eutectic solvents (DESs) has been measured for the first time. Six different hydrophobic DESs are studied in the temperature range from 298 to 323 K and at CO2 pressures up to 2 MPa. The results are evaluated by comparing the solubility data with existing hydrophilic DESs and currently applied physical solvents and fluorinated ionic liquids. The DESs are prepared by mixing decanoic acid with a quaternary ammonium salt with different halide anions and alkyl chain lengths. The measured CO2 solubilities are similar to those found in renowned fluorinated ILs, while the heats of CO2 absorption are in the range of nonpolar solvents. The presented DESs show good potential to be used as CO2 capture agents.

Thermophysical properties of imidazolium tricyanomethanide ionic liquids: experiments and molecular simulation.

The low-viscous tricyanomethanide ([TCM](-))-based ionic liquids (ILs) are gaining increasing interest as attractive fluids for a variety of industrial applications. The thermophysical properties (density, viscosity, surface tension, electrical conductivity and self-diffusion coefficient) of the 1-alkyl-3-methylimidazolium tricyanomethanide [Cnmim][TCM] (n = 2, 4 and 6-8) IL series were experimentally measured over the temperature range from 288 to 363 K. Moreover, a classical force field optimized for the imidazolium-based [TCM](-) ILs was used to calculate their thermodynamic, structural and transport properties (density, surface tension, self-diffusion coefficients, viscosity) in the temperature range from 300 to 366 K. The predictions were directly compared against the experimental measurements. The effects of anion and alkyl chain length on the structure and thermophysical properties have been evaluated. In cyano-based ILs, the density decreases with increasing molar mass, in contrast to the behavior of the fluorinated anions, being in agreement with the literature. The contribution per -CH2- group to the increase of the viscosity presents the following sequence: [PF6](-) > [BF4](-) > [Tf2N](-) > [DCA](-) > [TCB](-) > [TCM](-). [TCM](-)-based ILs show lower viscosity than dicyanamide ([DCA](-))- and tetracyanoborate ([TCB](-))-based ILs, while the latter two exhibit a crossover which depends both on temperature and the alkyl chain length of the cation. The surface tension of the investigated ILs decreases with increasing alkyl chain length. [C2mim][TCM] shows an outlier behavior compared to other members of the homologous series. The surface enthalpies and surface entropies for all the studied systems have been calculated based on the experimentally determined surface tensions. The relationship between molar conductivity and viscosity was analyzed using the Walden rule. The experimentally determined self-diffusion coefficients of the cations are in good agreement with the molecular simulation predictions, in which a decrease of the self-diffusion of the cations with increasing alkyl chain length is observed with a simultaneous increase in viscosity and for the longer alkyl lengths the anion becomes more mobile than the cation.

PC-SAFT Modeling of CO2 Solubilities in Deep Eutectic Solvents.

Perturbed-Chain Statistical Associating Fluid Theory (PC-SAFT), a physically based model that accounts for different molecular interactions explicitly, was applied to describe for the first time the phase behavior of deep eutectic solvents (DESs) with CO2 at temperatures from 298.15 to 318.15 K and pressures up to 2 MPa. DESs are mixtures of two solid compounds, a hydrogen bond donor (HBD) and a hydrogen bond acceptor (HBA), which form liquids upon mixing with melting points far below that of the individual compounds. In this work, the HBD is lactic acid and the HBAs are tetramethylammonium chloride, tetraethylammonium chloride, and tetrabutylammonium chloride. Two different modeling strategies were considered for the PC-SAFT modeling. In the first strategy, the so-called pseudo-pure component approach, a DES was considered as a pseudo-pure compound, and its pure-component parameters were obtained by fitting to pure DES density data. In the second strategy, the so-called individual-component approach, a DES was considered to consist of two individual components (HBA and HBD), and the pure-component parameters of the HBA and HBD were obtained by fitting to the density of aqueous solutions containing only the individual compounds of the DES. In order to model vapor-liquid equilibria (VLE) of DES + CO2 systems, binary interaction parameters were adjusted to experimental data from the literature and to new data measured in this work. It was concluded that the individual-component strategy allows quantitative prediction of the phase behavior of DES + CO2 systems containing those HBD:HBA molar ratios that were not used for k(ij) fitting. In contrast, applying the pseudo-pure component strategy required DES-composition specific k(ij) parameters.

Low transition temperature mixtures as innovative and sustainable CO2 capture solvents.

The potential of three newly discovered low transition temperature mixtures (LTTMs) is explored as sustainable substituents for the traditional carbon dioxide (CO2) absorbents. LTTMs are mixtures of two solid compounds, a hydrogen bond donor (HBD) and a hydrogen bond acceptor (HBA), which form liquids upon mixing with melting points far below those of the individual compounds. In this work the HBD is lactic acid and the HBAs are tetramethylammonium chloride, tetraethylammonium chloride, and tetrabutylammonium chloride. These compounds were found to form LTTMs for the first time at molar ratios of HBD:HBA = 2:1. First, the LTTMs were characterized by determining the thermal operating window (e.g., decomposition temperature and glass transition temperature) and the physical properties (e.g., density and viscosity). Thereafter, the phase behavior of CO2 with the LTTMs has been measured using a gravimetric magnetic suspension balance operating in the static mode at 308 and 318 K and pressures up to 2 MPa. The CO2 solubility increased with increasing chain length, increasing pressure, and decreasing temperature. The Peng-Robinson equation of state was applied to correlate the phase equilibria. From the solubility data, thermodynamic parameters were determined (e.g., Henry's law coefficient and enthalpy of absorption). The heat of absorption was found to be similar to that in conventional physical solvents (-11.21 to -14.87 kJ·mol(-1)). Furthermore, the kinetics in terms of the diffusion coefficient of CO2 in all LTTMs were determined (10(-11)-10(-10) m(2)·s(-1)). Even though the CO2 solubilities in the studied LTTMs were found to be slightly lower than those in thoroughly studied conventional physical solvents, LTTMs are a promising new class of absorbents due to their low cost, their environmentally friendly character, and their easy tunability, allowing further optimization for carbon capture.

Enhanced CO2 capture in binary mixtures of 1-alkyl-3-methylimidazolium tricyanomethanide ionic liquids with water.

Absorption of carbon dioxide and water in 1-butyl-3-methylimidazoliun tricyanomethanide ([C4C1im][TCM]) and 1-octyl-3-methylimidazolium tricyanomethanide ([C8C1im][TCM]) ionic liquids (ILs) was systematically investigated for the first time as a function of the H2O content by means of a gravimetric system together with in-situ Raman spectroscopy, excess molar volume (V(E)), and viscosity deviation measurements. Although CO2 absorption was marginally affected by water at low H2O molar fractions for both ILs, an increase of the H2O content resulted in a marked enhancement of both the CO2 solubility (ca. 4-fold) and diffusivity (ca. 10-fold) in the binary [C(n)C1im][TCM]/H2O systems, in contrast to the weak and/or detrimental influence of water in most physically and chemically CO2-absorbing ILs. In-situ Raman spectroscopy on the IL/CO2 systems verified that CO2 is physically absorbed in the dry ILs with no significant effect on their structural organization. A pronounced variation of distinct tricyanomethanide Raman modes was disclosed in the [C(n)C1im][TCM]/H2O mixtures, attesting to the gradual disruption of the anion-cation coupling by the hydrogen-bonded water molecules to the [TCM](-) anions, in accordance with the positive excess molar volumes and negative viscosity deviations for the binary systems. Most importantly, CO2 absorption in the ILs/H2O mixtures at high water concentrations revealed that the [TCM](-) Raman modes tend to restore their original state for the heavily hydrated ILs, in qualitative agreement with the intriguing nonmonotonous transients of CO2 absorption kinetics unveiled by the gravimetric measurements for the hybrid solvents. A molecular exchange mechanism between CO2 in the gas phase and H2O in the liquid phase was thereby proposed to explain the enhanced CO2 absorption in the hybrid [C(n)C1im][TCM]//H2O solvents based on the subtle competition between the TCM-H2O and TCM-CO2 interactions, which renders these ILs very promising for CO2 separation applications.