Improved CO₂ Capture and Catalytic Hydrogenation Using Amino Acid Based Ionic Liquids

Area of Science:

• Green chemistry
• Catalysis
• Carbon capture and utilization

Background:

• Ionic liquids (ILs) are explored as sustainable solvents and catalysts.
• CO2 capture and conversion are critical for mitigating climate change.
• Amino acids offer potential as functional components in ILs.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate alkyl ammonium/imidazolium ionic liquids with amino acid counterions for CO2 capture and hydrogenation.
• To evaluate the catalytic performance, scalability, and reusability of these novel systems.

Main Methods:

• Synthesis of various ionic liquids using amino acids as counterions.
• Testing the synthesized ionic liquids for CO2 absorption and subsequent hydrogenation to formate.
• Assessing reaction kinetics, product yield, catalyst stability, and scalability.

Main Results:

• Ionic liquids utilizing arginine as a counterion demonstrated high activity and productivity for CO2 capture and hydrogenation.
• The process was scalable with no significant drop in formate production.
• The catalyst system exhibited excellent reusability over five consecutive runs, achieving a high turnover number (TON) of 12,741 for formate salt formation.

Conclusions:

• Amino acid-based ionic liquids, particularly those with arginine, represent effective and potentially green catalysts for CO2 capture and conversion to formate.
• The demonstrated scalability and reusability highlight the practical viability of this approach for industrial applications in CO2 utilization.