CO 2 Capture at Room Temperature and Ambient Pressure : Isomer Effect in Room Temperature Ionic Liquid / Propanol Solutions

A CO2 capture system without supercritical CO2 was optimized for mixtures of hydrophobic room temperature ionic liquids (RTILs) and propanol. We tested RTILs using bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide, TFSI−, anion and four quaternary ammonium cations, two quaternary phosphonium cations, and one imidazolium cation. The addition of 2-propanol into the RTILs clearly promoted the capture of normal CO2(nCO2) at ambient temperature and pressure. When combined with 2propanol, the most efficient RTILs for nCO2 capture were N-butyl-N,N,N-trimethylammonium TFSI−. This enhancement of nCO2 capture was not observed in RTIL mixtures with 1-propanol or in propanol mixtures containing other phosphoniumand imidazolium-based RTILs. The torsion angle of TFSI−, which was calculated using density functional theory, is thought to be related to high nCO2 capture efficiently.


Introduction
The emission of greenhouse gases, which warms the Earth's surface and atmosphere, is an urgent global problem.Room temperature ionic liquids (RTILs) have attracted considerable attention for the capture of carbon H. Abe et al. 117 dioxide (CO 2 ) in efforts to counteract global warming.The capture of CO 2 using an RTIL was first reported by physically dissolving supercritical CO 2 (scCO 2 ) at high temperature and pressure into 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate, [C 4 mim][PF 6 ] [1], and the pressure-CO 2 molar fraction phase diagram was constructed at 40˚C.Since then, various theoretical [2]- [6] and experimental [7]- [13] investigations have been conducted to further develop techniques for CO 2 capture and storage in green chemistry.Systematic studies reveal that scCO 2 is highly soluble in the bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide (TFSI − ) anion-based RTIL [10] and the polymerization of RTILs has been shown to allow the reversible and fast sorption and desorption of normal CO 2 (nCO 2 ) [8].To apply RTILs in actual industrial applications, developing a cost-effective system that does not require high temperature or pressure for nCO 2 capture remains necessary.
As additive effect, isomer effects of alcohols in the RTILs were observed distinctly [14]- [17].A previous study estimated the molecular interactions between RTILs and propanol on desorption time measured under vacuum [14].The results indicated that 1-propanol interacts more strongly with RTILs than does 2-propanol.In addition, Raman spectroscopy revealed that the propanol isomer effect is related to the conformations of TFSI − anion, which can exist as two stable conformers, cis (C 1 ) and trans (C 2 ) [18] [19].C 1 and C 2 conformers of TFSI − originate from the competition between the alkyl side-chain length of the C n mim + cation and the propanol isomer effect.Recently, butanol isomer effect was reported in [C n mim][TFSI]-based systems with four types of butanol [17], owing to the different hydrophobicities of four types of butanol.The upper critical solution temperatures (UCSTs) in the phase diagrams were clearly separated with increasing alkyl side-chain length of the C n mim + cation.
In this study, we optimized physical sorption of nCO 2 at room temperature and ambient pressure.The dilution of RTILs with 2-propanol promoted nCO 2 capture, and stabilized the liquid mixing state.The amount of captured nCO 2 was related to the torsion angle of the TFSI − anion, which was calculated by density functional theory (DFT).The propanol isomer effect and torsion angle of TFSI − anion had critical effects on the level of nCO 2 absorption in the propanol-rich region, which is desirable for decreasing the cost of carbon capture operation.
For CO 2 sorption, a CO 2 flowing system was assembled.A schematic of the CO 2 sorption system is illustrated in Figure 1.Mixtures were put into a glass-type sample bottle (30 cc).
The sample bottle was placed on a container with flowing gas.The sample container was immersed in an ethanol bath (Yamato Scientific Co., BB301) with flowing CO 2 gas (30 mL/min) for 10 min.Temperature stability was within 0.1˚C (15˚C ≤ T ≤ 30˚C).Within 5 s, the sample was moved to the electric balance (HR-202i, A & D Co.), which monitored the desorption process of nCO 2 .Gas selectivity testing was conducted using O 2 and N 2 gases.
To determine the phase diagrams of the RTIL-propanol mixtures, samples were cooled from 30˚C to −50˚C using an ethanol bath (Yamato Scientific Co., BE200).By visual cloud-point determinations, accuracy of the clouding temperatures was found to be within 0.5˚C.A liquid N 2 pot was used as a supplement for further cooling.The minimum temperature (−50˚C) is limited by viscous ethanol at low temperature.The temperature was monitored by a Pt100 temperature sensor (Netsushin Co.).The cooling rate was 1.5 C/min.
The conformational stabilities of the mixtures were examined by Raman spectroscopy using a micro-Raman spectrometer (RA-07F, Seishin-Shoji) in backscattering mode equipped with a monochromator (500M, Horiba JobinYvon) and a charge-coupled device detector (Symphony, Horiba JobinYvon).Radiation at 532 nm from a Nd:YAG laser (power = 50 mW) was used as the excitation source.

nCO 2 Capture in RTIL-Propanol Mixtures
Figure 2 shows the amount of captured nCO 2 as a function of propanol concentration in the [N4111][TFSI]propanol system at a temperature of 25˚C.The molar fraction of nCO 2 was calculated as, ( ) where n IL and 2 CO n are the moles of RTILs and nCO 2 , respectively.We did not consider the amount of propanol in this study, as propanol is relatively inexpensive compared with the RTILs.The results show that the addition of 2-propanol can promote nCO 2 capture in the propanol-rich region.In contrast, 1-propanol did not enhance nCO 2 capture.The value of η for the 1-propanol-based mixtures remained almost constant with changing propanol concentration; this is a typical isomer effect of propanol, as indicated by the phase diagrams [15].The isomer effect of nCO 2 capture is discussed in the next section along with liquid stability.The above tendency is also seen in other systems.The molar fractions at the points of maximum nCO 2 sorption for all RTILs-propanol systems studied herein are indicated in Figure 3. Here, temperature was fixed at 25˚C.The nCO 2 sorption of the 1-propanol-based mixture was larger than that of the 2-propanol one only for the [DEME][TFSI] system.Relative large values of η were obtained in the quaternary ammonium cation-based systems.In contrast, the phosphonium and imidazolium systems exhibited lower nCO 2 capture abilities.The high efficiency of nCO 2 capture in the quaternary ammonium cation-based systems can be attributed to the syntheses of these cations.An example of synthesis using the Halogen-free carbonate ester method [21] can be written as follows: The scheme in Equation (2) leads to the coexistence of quaternary ammonium cation, alcohol and CO 2 , and provides a clue to explain the high nCO 2 capture obtained using quaternary ammonium cations.We predict that the cation, CO 2 and alcohol are affirmative each other.Among the RTILs used in this study, the [N4111][TFSI]-2-propanol system provided the best nCO 2 storage.

Thermal Properties of nCO 2 Capture
To investigate the thermal characteristics of nCO 2 capture, the η value of the [N4111][TFSI]-80 mol% 2-propanol  system is plotted as a function of temperature in Figure 4(a).Upon cooling down to 15˚C, almost monotonic increase of η was observed.According to conventional thermodynamics, η decreases with increasing temperature.At lower temperature, CO 2 absorption efficiency was elevated.In [N4111][TFSI]-propanol system, however, there is a problem of phase separation in the propanol-rich region.(Figure 2).At the UCST, the phase separation behavior could significantly influence the nCO 2 capture.Generally, liquid becomes unstable as a precursor phenomenon close to phase separation.Fluctuations in the propanol concentration in the vicinity of the clouding point were not ignored.Furthermore, UCST and the critical concentration (x c = 85 mol%) in the phase diagram have significant meaning on the UCST [15].In thermodynamics, fluctuations are critical phenomena that are enhanced at UCST and x c .In this study, the intrinsic instability of the liquid phase in the RTILs-propanol mixtures became distinct at around x c .Thus, we deduce that the unstable liquid phase in the propanol-rich region was stabilized by nCO 2 sorption.-propanol [15] and -butanol [17].In both the pure and mixed systems, the TFSI -anion conformer indicates energetically stable/unstable states in the liquid state.DFT calculations are indispensable to interpret experimental results, although DFT calculations provide the molecular-level details on the gas phase.DFT calculations were performed using the Lee-Yang-Peer correlation (B3LYP) with the 6-31++G(d,p) basis set [23] [24] in the PC-GAMESS package [25].In the DFT simulation box, we introduced the torsion angle (α) of TFSI − anion (Figure 6(a)); the geometrical definition of α was provided  by the C-S-S-C angle.DFT calculations of the [N4111][TFSI] system were used to examine a relation between a of TFSI − and molecular configurations of propanol isomer and CO 2 additive (Table 1).The calculated torsion angle is sensitive to the presence of propanol and its conformation.In pure [N4111][TFSI], α = 30.756˚;the addition of 2-propanol increased the torsion angle to 72.517˚.The effect of 2-propanol on torsion angle was larger than that of 1-propanol.These results are in agreement with previous DFT calculations.The experimentally obtained C 2 /C 1 ratio of TFSI − anion is known to reflect the stabilities of the liquid, glass, and solid phases [14] [15] [17] [26].Thus, increased α in the [N4111][TFSI]-2-propanol mixture has significant implications for liquid state stabilization.The torsional potential of TFSI − anion has two local minima at 80˚ and 280˚ [27].Although the potential calculated between the two minima is relatively low, TFSI − has a higher torsional barrier at approximately 0˚ (C 1 ).Hence, in case of the [N4111][TFSI]-2-propanol mixture, 2-propanol causes the TFSI - anion to twist, and stabilizes energetically.In the [N4111][TFSI]-1-propanol system, α cannot reached to 70˚.The difference in α between the 1-and 2-propanol-based RTILs is directly connected to the propanol isomer effect on nCO 2 capture.To clarify the nCO 2 -driven stabilization in the RTIL-2-propanol systems, we replotted the observed CO 2 capture against the calculated α angle (Figure 6(b)).The most nCO 2 capture in the [N4111]-[TFSI]-2-propanol was observed at α = 70˚.In contrast, the minimum nCO 2 capture in the [N1123]-[TFSI]-2propanol system, which is fully stabilized without the addition of 2-propanol, was shifted to lower value of α.The α dependence of η in Figure 6(b) can be explained by assuming that CO 2 compensates for geometrically mismatching of TFSI − conformer and additives in 2-propanol based mixtures.

Gas Selectivity of [N4111][TFSI]-2-Propanol
For actual applications, the RTIL-propanol mixtures must be gas selective.Figure 7 shows CO 2 , O 2 , and N 2 sorption in the [N4111][TFSI]-80 mol% 2-propanol system at 25˚C.N 2 cannot contribute to energetic stabilization in an unstable liquid system in the propanol-rich region.N 2 mostly occupied in the air has the lowest sorption.The gas selectivity in the [N4111][TFSI]-80 mol% 2-propanol system has an advantage for industrial applications.The results clearly show that CO 2 is preferred in the [N4111][TFSI]-2-propanol system.CO 2 selectivity was realized at ambient pressure.CO 2 plays an important role for the high efficient CO 2 capture system, although the mechanism remains unclear.

Summary
At ambient pressure and room temperature, nCO 2 capture in quaternary ammonium-based RTILs is promoted by the addition of 2-propanol.The propanol isomer effect associated with nCO 2 capture is revealed by the lack of enhancement in RTIL with added 1-propanol.The conformation of TFSI − is regarded as a good indicator of nCO 2 capture ability, since TFSI − torsion angle is strongly correlated with the amount of nCO 2 sorption.The increase in nCO 2 sorption in the propanol-rich region is consistent with liquid instability near the UCST, as shown in the phase diagram.The [N4111][TFSI]-2-propanol mixtures provide both high nCO 2 capture and gas selectivity.

Figure 4 (
b) reveals the phase diagram of [N4111][TFSI]-1-propanol and -2-propanol.The phase diagram of [N4111][TFSI]-propanol system was constructed based on visual cloud-point determinations [15] [17].The cloud-points of 1-and 2-based mixtures are represented by red and blue closed circles, respectively.On the phase diagrams, different molecular interactions of 1-and 2-propanol was predominant, since phase separation curves are calculated using the UNIQUAC interaction parameters [15].The UNIQUAC model has the nearest neighbor correlation.The UCST of the [N4111][TFSI]-80 mol% 2-propanol mixture was approximately 15˚C.Therefore, below 15˚C, it is impossible to use nCO 2 capture in the [N4111][TFSI]-2-propanol system for industrial applications.Phase diagram including phase instability is connected with nCO 2 capture ability in the propanol-rich region

Table 1 .
Calculated torsion angle (α) of TFSI − anion.α is strongly dependent on the presence of propanol and CO 2 .