Hydrated carboxylate ionic liquids as chemical CO2 sorbents of high capacity and moderate enthalpy of absorption

Tetralkylphosphonium carboxylate ionic liquids are herein presented as efficient carbon dioxide chemisorbents in the presence of water. The ionic liquids tetrabutylphosphonium formate and acetate, tributylmethylphosphonium formate and a series of triethylalkylphosphonium formates and acetates, have been prepared by various synthetic procedures either from hydroxide or methylcarbonate precursors, or via multiple steps starting from the parent triethylphosphine. Their physicochemical properties, namely melting or glass transition temperatures, thermal decomposition behaviour, densities and viscosities have been determined. As dry substances, they are viscous liquids or low-melting solids, whereas they show little tendency to solidify in their hydrated forms. They were used mostly as monohydrates in CO2 solubility measurements, exhibiting highest capacities (3 mol L−1, i.e. ≈ 0.9 molCO2 molIL−1, at 5 bar, 25 °C) at equimolar H2O/ionic liquid ratios, approaching those of commercial aqueous amine sorbents. Carbon dioxide chemisorption into hydrogencarbonate takes place, as demonstrated by infrared spectroscopy with isotopic labelling. CO2 absorption isotherms were recorded at various temperatures and the data used to estimate the heat of absorption according to three different thermodynamic models adopted. Enthalpies of CO2 absorption depended heavily on the model used. Rationalisation of this was done on the grounds of the expected relevance of physical and chemical sorption processes. Average heats of CO2 absorption lie between − 40 and − 45 kJ mol−1, in accordance with mild chemical absorption albeit significantly lower than those for typical chemical sorbents such as amines. This reinforces the feasibility of hydrated carboxylate ionic liquids for CO2 capture technologies of low regeneration energies.