The objective of this project is to develop a novel class of solvents for post-combustion recovery of CO₂ from fossil fuel-fired power plants which will achieve a substantial increase in CO₂ carrying capacity with a concomitant plummet in cost. The project team is a combination of chemical engineers and chemists with extensive experience in working with industrial partners to formulate novel solvents and to develop processes that are both environmentally benign and economically viable. Further, the team has already developed solvents called “reversible ionic liquids,” essentially “smart” molecules which change properties abruptly in response to some stimulus, and these have quickly found a plethora of applications.

In this project, cutting-edge chemistry will be combined with established methods of implementation to produce a solvent that results in a less-expensive, more energy efficient CO₂ scrubbing system. The first step will be to synthesize and characterize optimum molecules for two classes of reversible ionic liquids, one based on silyl amines and one based on guanadines. Structure-property relationships will be used to optimize the structure of these ionic liquids to yield desired thermodynamic and physical properties, ranging from a favorable heat of absorption to a low viscosity. Next, CO₂ capture systems using these ionic liquids will be designed and the costs of implementing these systems will be analyzed. Finally, economical methods for commodity scale production of the novel solvents will be developed if they are selected for implementation.

Further, if this novel method for CO₂ capture from coal-fired power plants is successful, it could easily be extended to CO₂ capture from any other CO₂-producing process, such as the burning ‘of other fossil fuels or biofuels, or even for fermentation.

CO2 capture via a single-component, reversible ionic liquid (Based on a silylated amine mechanism)