Deep eutectic solvents-Ideal solution for clean air or hidden danger?

The industrial sector is one of the fastest-growing sources of greenhouse gases, due to its excessive energy consumption to meet the rapidly growing demand for energy-intensive products. The use of deep eutectic solvents (DESs) has been studied extensively in order to cope with these harmful gases, but their usage can be an issue in respect to ecological reasons. Do deep eutectic solvents harm the atmosphere? Yes, these solvents can be harmful if their constituents (HBA and HBD) that are volatile and toxic in nature. A number of scientific reports preset their application without care on cross-contamination of treated media. Herein, we highlight the ecotoxicity behavior of DESs as treatment materials for three major toxic gas treatment methods, including carbon dioxide (CO2) capture, biogas treatment and air purification. Special attention is given to the health consequences of HBDs due to their toxicity and emission outside of the treatment system into the environment. The physicochemical characteristics of DESs are evaluated and addressed in comparison to the benchmark solvents. Emission of DESs can be predicted based on simulation software like COSMO-RS or Molecular Dynamics (MD). Furthermore, we suggest some simple protocols to estimate this issue and thus make aware researchers to think about it when experimenting with DES for different applications.