Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, Vol.58, No.12, 5018-5029, 2019
Sulfuryl Fluoride Absorption from Fumigation Exhaust Gas by Biobased Solvents: Thermodynamic and Quantum Chemical Analysis
With the global phaseout of methyl bromide, much more sulfuryl fluoride (SO2F2) is pouring into the atmosphere after fumigation, intensifying the greenhouse effect. Therefore, the reduction of SO2F2 emission is urgently required. In this paper, biobased solvents are proposed to capture SO2F2. Solubilities of SO2F2 in eight biobased solvents at temperatures from 283.15 to 323.15 K and pressures up to 600 kPa are measured. On the basis of thermodynamic consideration, a parametric method is adopted to select potential physical solvents for SO2F2 absorption. Then, a preliminary quantum chemical analysis is conducted to reveal the mechanism of SO2F2 dissolution in biobased solvents. To verify the selective absorption of SO2F2 from fumigation exhaust gas, which is mainly air, the ideal selectivity of SO2F2/N-2 and SO2F2/O-2 is also probed. Additionally, the recyclability of biobased solvents is examined. Results show that these selected biobased solvents have significantly larger absorption capacities than water. Based on the analysis of solubility data, it is found that bis(2-ethylhexyl) azelate with higher SO2F2 capacity also has smaller Hildebrand solubility parameter and larger SO(2)F(2)solvent interaction energy. Moreover, the interactions between SO2F2 and biobased solvents are revealed to be dispersion interactions. The ideal selectivity of SO2F2/N-2 and SO2F2/O-2 ranging from 19.98 to 126.93 proves that the selective absorption of SO2F2 is feasible. In addition, the solubility of SO2F2 in bis(2-ethylhexyl) azelate is almost unchanged after six absorptiondesorption cycles.