Inhibition of Aqueous Chemical Reactions by Strong Liquid Structure Makers: Experimental Demonstration with Amides and Acid-Base Reactions.

The chemical absorption of CO and HS in aqueous tertiary amines is a well-known acid-base reaction. Kinetic and vapor-liquid equilibrium experiments show that the addition of an amide such as HMPA, which is known to be a strong liquid structure maker, significantly inhibits the acid-base reactions. The impact is more pronounced for CO than for HS absorption.

Computational screening methodology identifies effective solvents for CO capture.

Carbon capture and storage technologies are projected to increasingly contribute to cleaner energy transitions by significantly reducing CO emissions from fossil fuel-driven power and industrial plants. The industry standard technology for CO capture is chemical absorption with aqueous alkanolamines, which are often being mixed with an activator, piperazine, to increase the overall CO absorption rate. Inefficiency of the process due to the parasitic energy required for thermal regeneration of the solvent drives the search for new tertiary amines with better kinetics.

Chemoinformatics-Driven Design of New Physical Solvents for Selective CO Absorption.

The removal of CO from gases is an important industrial process in the transition to a low-carbon economy. The use of selective physical (co-)solvents is especially perspective in cases when the amount of CO is large as it enables one to lower the energy requirements for solvent regeneration. However, only a few physical solvents have found industrial application and the design of new ones can pave the way to more efficient gas treatment techniques.