Physical absorption of CO2 in betaine/carboxylic acid-based Natural Deep Eutectic Solvents

Molecular Guide for Selecting Green Deep Eutectic Solvents with High Monosaccharide Solubility for Food Applications

Monosaccharides play a vital role in the human diet due to their interesting biological activity and functional properties. Conventionally, sugars are extracted using volatile organic solvents (VOCs). Deep eutectic solvents (DESs) have recently emerged as a new green alternative to VOCs. Nonetheless, the selection criterion of an appropriate DES for a specific application is a very difficult task due to the designer nature of these solvents and the theoretically infinite number of combinations of their constituents and compositions. This paper presents a framework for screening a large number of DES constituents for monosaccharide extraction application using COSMO-RS. The framework employs the activity coefficients at infinite dilution (γ_i^∞) as a measure of glucose and fructose solubility. Moreover, the toxicity analysis of the constituents is considered to ensure that selected constituents are safe to work with. Finally, the obtained viscosity predictions were used to select DESs that are not transport-limited. To provide more insights into which functional groups are responsible for more effective monosaccharide extraction, a structure-solubility analysis was carried out. Based on an analysis of 212 DES constituents, the top-performing hydrogen bond acceptors were found to be carnitine, betaine, and choline chloride, while the top-performing hydrogen bond donors were oxalic acid, ethanolamine, and citric acid. A research initiative was presented in this paper to develop robust computational frameworks for selecting optimal DESs for a given application to develop an effective DES design strategy that can aid in the development of novel processes using DESs.

Deep Eutectic Solvents: Properties and Applications in CO2 Separation

Nowadays, many researchers are focused on finding a solution to the problem of global warming. Carbon dioxide is considered to be responsible for the "greenhouse" effect. The largest global emission of industrial CO₂ comes from fossil fuel combustion, which makes power plants the perfect point source targets for immediate CO₂ emission reductions. A state-of-the-art method for capturing carbon dioxide is chemical absorption using an aqueous solution of alkanolamines, most frequently a 30% wt. solution of monoethanolamine (MEA). Unfortunately, the usage of alkanolamines has a number of drawbacks, such as the corrosive nature of the reaction environment, the loss of the solvent due to its volatility, and a high energy demand at the regeneration step. These problems have driven the search for alternatives to that method, and deep eutectic solvents (DESs) might be a very good substitute. Many types of DESs have thus far been investigated for efficient CO₂ capture, and various hydrogen bond donors and acceptors have been used. Deep eutectic solvents that are capable of absorbing carbon dioxide physically and chemically have been reported. Strategies for further CO₂ absorption improvement, such as the addition of water, other co-solvents, or metal salts, have been proposed. Within this review, the physical properties of DESs are presented, and their effects on CO₂ absorption capacity are discussed in conjunction with the types of HBAs and HBDs and their molar ratios. The practical issues of using DESs for CO₂ separation are also described.

Single atom solutions for carbon dioxide capture

New solvents are considered to be one of the effective methods to facilitate the reaction rate and lower the reaction energy barrier. However, the common method to develop a new solvent has come to a dead end. Thus, a single atom in solvent to produce a single atom solution is designed to create the breakthrough. Eight kinds of single atom solutions are prepared as new absorbents. Experiments prove the single atom in the solutions and their charge-producing effects. A density functional theory model is developed to analyze the microscale characteristics. Meanwhile, it has been applied in carbon dioxide capture. The CO₂ desorption rate is intensified in the single atom solution system due to the controlled reaction energy barrier. The results show that single atom solutions produce a maximum voltage of 2.12 V and, thus, contribute to near zero energy consumption by effectively harvesting the substantial waste heat below 373 K.

Carbon Capture Materials in Post-Combustion: Adsorption and Absorption-Based Processes

Global warming and climate changes are among the biggest modern-day environmental problems, the main factor causing these problems is the greenhouse gas effect. The increased concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere resulted in capturing increased amounts of reflected sunlight, causing serious acute and chronic environmental problems. The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere reached 421 ppm in 2022 as compared to 280 in the 1800s, this increase is attributed to the increased carbon dioxide emissions from the industrial revolution. The release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere can be minimized by practicing carbon capture utilization and storage methods. Carbon capture utilization and storage (CCUS) has four major methods, namely, pre-combustion, post-combustion, oxyfuel combustion, and direct air capture. It has been reported that applying CCUS can capture up to 95% of the produced carbon dioxide in running power plants. However, a reported cost penalty and efficiency decrease hinder the wide applicability of CCUS. Advancements in the CCSU were made in increasing the efficiency and decreasing the cost of the sorbents. In this review, we highlight the recent developments in utilizing both physical and chemical sorbents to capture carbon. This includes amine-based sorbents, blended absorbents, ionic liquids, metal-organic framework (MOF) adsorbents, zeolites, mesoporous silica materials, alkali-metal adsorbents, carbonaceous materials, and metal oxide/metal oxide-based materials. In addition, a comparison between recently proposed kinetic and thermodynamic models was also introduced. It was concluded from the published studies that amine-based sorbents are considered assuperior carbon-capturing materials, which is attributed to their high stability, multifunctionality, rapid capture, and ability to achieve large sorption capacities. However, more work must be done to reduce their cost as it can be regarded as their main drawback.

Amino Acid-Based Natural Deep Eutectic Solvents for Extraction of Phenolic Compounds from Aqueous Environments

The environmental pollution of phenol-containing wastewater is an urgent problem with industrial development. Natural deep eutectic solvents provide an environmentally friendly alternation for the solvent extraction of phenol. This study synthesized a series of natural deep eutectic solvents with L-proline and decanoic acid as precursors, characterized by in situ infrared spectrometry, Fourier transform infrared spectrometry, hydrogen nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometry, and differential thermogravimetric analysis. Natural deep eutectic solvents have good thermal stability. The high-efficiency extraction of phenol from wastewater by natural deep eutectic solvents was investigated under mild conditions. The effects of natural deep eutectic solvents, phenol concentration, reaction temperature, and reaction time on phenol extraction were studied. The optimized extraction conditions of phenol with L-prolin/decanoic acid were as follows: molar ratio, 4.2:1; reaction time, 60 min; and temperature, 50 °C. Extraction efficiency was up to 62%. The number of extraction cycles can be up to 6, and extraction rate not less than 57%. The promising results demonstrate that natural deep eutectic solvents are efficient in the field of phenolic compound extraction in wastewater.

Investigation of NH3 absorption by protic imidazolium thiocyanate-based deep eutectic solvents with multiple binding sites and low viscosity

Protic [Im][SCN]-based DESs with multiple binding sites and low viscosity for NH3 capture and separation are reported.

Ionic Liquids/Deep Eutectic Solvents-Based Hybrid Solvents for CO2 Capture

The CO2 solubilities (including CO2 Henry’s constants) and viscosities in ionic liquids (ILs)/deep eutectic solvents (DESs)-based hybrid solvents were comprehensively collected and summarized. The literature survey results of CO2 solubility illustrated that the addition of hybrid solvents to ILs/DESs can significantly enhance the CO2 solubility, and some of the ILs-based hybrid solvents are super to DESs-based hybrid solvents. The best hybrid solvents of IL–H2O, IL–organic, IL–amine, DES–H2O, and DES–organic are [DMAPAH][Formate] (2.5:1) + H2O (20 wt %) (4.61 mol/kg, 298 K, 0.1 MPa), [P4444][Pro] + PEG400 (70 wt %) (1.61 mol/kg, 333.15 K, 1.68 MPa), [DMAPAH][Formate] (2.0:1) + MEA (30 wt %) (6.24 mol/kg, 298 K, 0.1 MPa), [TEMA][Cl]-GLY-H2O 1:2:0.11 (0.66 mol/kg, 298 K, 1.74 MPa), and [Ch][Cl]-MEA 1:2 + DBN 1:1 (5.11 mol/kg, 298 K, 0.1 MPa), respectively. All of these best candidates show higher CO2 solubility than their used pure ILs or DESs, evidencing that IL/DES-based hybrid solvents are remarkable for CO2 capture. For the summarized viscosity results, the presence of hybrid solvents in ILs and DESs can decrease their viscosities. The lowest viscosities acquired in this work for IL–H2O, IL–amine, DES–H2O, and DES–organic hybrid solvents are [DEA][Bu] + H2O (98.78 mol%) (0.59 mPa·s, 343.15 K), [BMIM][BF4] + DETA (94.9 mol%) (2.68 mPa·s, 333.15 K), [L-Arg]-GLY 1:6 + H2O (60 wt %) (2.7 mPa·s, 353.15 K), and [MTPP][Br]-LEV-Ac 1:3:0.03 (16.16 mPa·s, 333.15 K) at 0.1 MPa, respectively.