Mathematical Modeling of Dispersed CO2 Dissolution in Ionic Liquids: Application to Carbon Capture

As an example of a carbon capture approach, we have developed 2D CFD model in Comsol Multiphysics in which we investigated CO₂ absorption in an ionic liquid ([Bmim][TCM]). Factors such as pressure (1–20 bar), temperature (278–330 K), inlet gas velocity (0.0001–1ms^-1), sparger diameter to column diameter ratio (0.1–0.5), and column height to diameter ratio (1–3) were investigated. A quadratic model for absorption behavior (p-value < 0.0001 and R² 0.98) was developed. Four sparger geometries were considered, and the optimal values for column height to diameter and sparger diameter to column diameter were computed. The maximum CO₂ concentration was obtained at a pressure of 18.26 bar, temperature of 309.5 K, velocity of 0.825 ms^-1, sparger diameter to column diameter of 0.414, and column height to diameter of 2.5.