Mathematical modeling of dispersed CO2 dissolution in ionic liquids: Application to carbon capture

We develope a 2D computational fluid dynamic (CFD) model in COMSOL Multiphysics (R) to investigate CO2 absorption in an ionic liquid ([Bmim][TCM]). Factors such as pressure (1-20 bar), temperature (278-330 K), inlet gas velocity (0.0001-1 ms(-1) ), sparger radius to column diameter ratio (0.1-0.5), and column height to diameter ratio (1-3) are investigated. A quadratic model for absorption behavior (p-value < 0.0001 and R-2 > 0.98) is developed. Four sparger geometries are considered, and the optimal values for column height to diameter and sparger radius to column diameter are estimated. The maximum CO2 concentration is obtained at a pressure of 18.26 bar, temperature of 309.5 K, velocity of 0.825 ms(-1) , the sparger radius to column diameter of 0.414, and column height to diameter of 2.5.