Combining Nonionic DES Design with High-Gravity Technology to Advance Sustainable Gas Absorption: CO2 Capture as a Case Study

Gas absorption plays a vital role in environmental protection and resource recovery but remains hindered by low mass transfer efficiency, large equipment size, and environmental concerns of conventional solvents. To address these challenges, this work establishes a generalizable framework that couples solvent innovation with equipment enhancement to advance sustainable process intensification. Specifically, room-temperature nonionic deep eutectic solvents (DESs) are rationally designed through precursor collection, fusion property and EHS evaluation, and solid–liquid equilibrium calculations, yielding 313 feasible DES combinations. Considering five composition ratios, 1565 DES candidates are generated, from which COSMO-RS screening identifies three promising diglyme-based systems for CO2 absorption. Their absorption behavior is experimentally validated in a rotating packed bed (RPB), confirming both the reliability of the computational screening and the significant intensification effect of high-gravity field. Mechanistic insights are further obtained from σ-profiles, interaction energy calculations, and quantum chemical analyses, revealing that van der Waals interactions dominate CO2-DES binding, while hydrogen bonding drives DES formation. These results not only validate the consistency of solvent design and experimental outcomes but also highlight the synergistic effect of integrating solvent design with high-gravity technology. Overall, the study demonstrates a versatile methodology for intensifying gas absorption, with CO2 capture as a representative application.