DESIGN AND EVALUATION OF IONIC LIQUIDS AS NOVEL CO2 ABSORBENTS

Progress from the first quarter of activity on the project ''Design and Evaluation of Ionic Liquids as Novel CO{sub 2} Absorbents'' is provided. Major activities in three areas are reported: ''assembling equipment and a research team, compound synthesis and molecular modeling''. Nine new ionic liquid compounds have been made or acquired, and are in line for physical property testing to assess their potential for CO{sub 2} sequestration. Quantum mechanical calculations between CO{sub 2} and different ionic liquids have been conducted. The simulations have shed light on the nature of interactions between CO{sub 2} and the ionic liquids, and are providing insight that will be used to suggest new compounds to be synthesized and tested