Explaining the differential solubility of flue gas components in ionic liquids from first-principle calculations

Flue gas is greatly responsible for acid rain formation and global warming. New generation ionic liquids (ILs) have potential in controlling the flue gas emissions, as they acquire high absorptivity for the component gases SO(2), CO(2), etc. The association of the IL-gas interactions to the absorptivity of gas molecules in ILs is, however, poorly understood. In this paper, we present a molecular level description of the interactions of ILs with SO(2), CO(2), and N(2) and show its implications to the differential gas solubility. Our results indicate that the IL anion-gas interactions play a key role in deciding the gas solubility in ILs, particularly for polar gases such as SO(2). On the other hand, regular solution assumption applies to N(2) solubility. In accordance with the previous theoretical and experimental findings, our results also imply that the IL anions dominate the interactions with gas molecules while the cations play a secondary role and the underlying fluid structures of the ILs remain unperturbed by the addition of gas molecules.