CO2 Dissolution in Methylpiperazine

Abstract

The issue of post combustion carbon dioxide capture and storage is an emerging environmental concern. Many CO2 capture experiments have been performed using both reactive and non reactive solvents. We hope to test the effect of the reactive amine, Methylpiperazine on the CO2 uptake rate. However, many of the experimental set ups currently in use are very large and require substantial amounts of time to operate. In light of this, we built a Hele-Shaw cell. The cell is a small, reusable method for performing CO2 uptake experiments. A cylindrical bubble is injected into the cell, and as the bubble shrinks, CO2 molecules di use out. We took this set up, which was designed for tests in water, and broadened it to include ionic liquids. As we began performing CO2 uptake experiments in ionic liquid, we were able to determine some factors that influence the CO2 uptake rate. These include the concentration of the reactive substance as well as the dissolved gas content of the solution. By dissolved gas content, we denote gasses such as N2 and O2 that are already present in the solvent at the beginning of the experiments. We were also able to generate mathematical models to describe the dissolved CO2 front at the beginning and end of our dissolution experiments. Future works should include more experiments with degassed solutions, as well as a quantitative scheme for determining the gas content of the test solutions.