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- Conflict of Interest
- In relation to this article, we declare that there is no conflict of interest.
- Publication history
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Received April 16, 2025
Revised June 2, 2025
Accepted June 12, 2025
Available online October 25, 2025
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This is an Open-Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/bync/3.0) which permits
unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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Development and Performance Evaluation of Polyether-Induced Biphasic Solvents for Energy-Effi cient CO 2 Capture
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11814-025-00505-1
Abstract
Conventional aqueous amine solvents used for post-combustion CO 2 capture off er excellent absorption performance but
require high regeneration energy. To reduce the energy demand, this study developed water-lean biphasic solvents by partially
replacing water with polyether-based organic solvents. These biphasic solvents remain monophasic before CO 2 absorption but
undergo liquid–liquid phase separation into CO 2 -rich and CO 2 -lean phases upon CO 2 absorption. Monoethanolamine (MEA)
was used as the primary absorbent, and several polyethers with varying polarities were screened. Among them, diethylene
glycol monobutyl ether (DEGMBE) demonstrated the highest CO 2 concentration eff ect via phase separation. With increasing
DEGMBE content, the CO 2 loading in the rich phase increased, reaching 235 gCO 2 /Lsolvent at 50 wt% DEGMBE. Phase
separation enhances the cyclic capacity due to selective regeneration of the CO 2 -rich phase. The mechanism was confi rmed
using 13 C NMR, revealing that MEA carbamate and bicarbonate species preferentially migrate to the aqueous phase due to
their poor solubility in DEGMBE. These fi ndings suggest that polyether-induced biphasic solvents off er a promising pathway
for improving the energy effi ciency of amine-based CO 2 capture systems.
