Sandra Einloft

Abstract:

The largest anthropogenic contribution to climate change is the fossil fuel burning resulting in huge carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions. Reduction of CO₂ emissions is imperative to mitigate environmental impacts. CO₂ separation can help global warming mitigation as well as provide CO₂ for other processes such as carbon capture and utilization (CCU) and enhanced oil recovery (EOR). Yet CO₂ is an abundant nontoxic resource that can be used in several applications. Chemical absorption processes for CO₂ capture using aqueous amine solutions have been extensively studied and used in industry for decades. They have, however, some operational drawbacks. Ionic liquids have been proposed as the next generation of solvents for a selective CO₂ separation. These compounds are versatile and less harmful to the environment than conventional organic solvents. They present unique properties such as negligible vapor pressure, non-flammability, high thermal stability, and tunability (myriad of possible combinations of cations and anions). Nevertheless, these solvents suffer from high viscosity and high production costs when compared to aqueous amines solutions. Poly(ionic liquid)s (PILs) appear as an alternative to RTIL for CO₂ capture and utilization. PILs represent an emerging subclass of the polyelectrolytes, were each repeating unit is ionic and connected through a polymeric backbone forming a macromolecular structure[1]. PILs combine the good features of RTILs with good mechanical stability, processing and tunable macromolecular design of polymeric material. PILs present higher CO₂ sorption capacity and sorption/desorption velocity than RTIL. PILs, materials with smart designs, can be used for CO₂ separation from the flue gas (CO₂/N₂), and natural gas purification (CO₂/CH₄), besides being active as catalyst for cyclic carbonate production from the reaction of CO₂ and epoxide. The aim of this presentation is to give a concise overview of PILs described in literature, as well as the research published by our group[1-5]. In addition, PLIs syntheses routes, as well as the influence of PILs backbone, anions type, and modification in CO₂ sorption capacity and catalyst activity will be discussed.

1- Einloft, S.; Bernard, F. L.; Dalla Vecchia, F. In Polymerized Ionic Liquids; Eftekhari, A., Ed.; 2017; pp 489-514.
2- Bernard, F. L.; Polesso, B. B.; Cobalchini, F. W.; Donato, A. J.; Seferin, M.; Ligabue, R.; Chaban, V. V.; do Nascimento, J. F.; Dalla Vecchia, F.; Einloft, S. Polymer (Guildf). 2016, 102, 199-208.
3- Magalhaes, T. O.; Aquino, A. S.; Dalla Vecchia, F.; Bernard, F. L.; Seferin, M.; Menezes, S. C.; Ligabue, R.; Einloft, S. RSC Adv. 2014, 4, 18164-18170.
4- Bernard, F. L.; Duczinski, R. B.; Rojas, M. F.; Fialho, M. C. C.; Carreño, L. Á.; Chaban, V. V.; Vecchia, F. D.; Einloft, S. Fuel 2018, 211, 76-86.
5- Bernard, F. L.; Polesso, B. B.; Cobalchini, F. W.; Chaban, V. V.; do Nascimento, J. F.; Dalla Vecchia, F.; Einloft, S. Energy & Fuels 2017, 31, 9840-9849.