Capturing CO₂: Conventional versus ionic-liquid based technologies

Since CO ₂ facilitates pipeline corrosion and contributes to a decrease of the calorific value of gaseous fuels, its removal has become an issue of significant economic importance. The present review discusses various types of traditional CO ₂ capture technologies in terms of their efficiency, complexity in system design, costs and environmental impact. The focus is hereby not only on conventional approaches but also on emerging 'green' solvents such as ionic liquids. The suitability of different ionic liquids as gas separation solvents is discussed in the present review and a description on their synthesis and properties in terms of CO ₂ capture is provided. The bibliography includes 136 references.