Currently available gas separation materials have limitations, including poor chemical and thermal stability under practical CO2 capture processes, low CO2 uptake and/or high CO2 uptake with additional energy requirement at the desorption step, low CO2 separation performance over other gasses present in the gas stream, high energy output to release capture CO2, and complex material design and preparation processes.

This invention describes the design, synthesis, and use of a new polymeric sorbent (polybenzimidazole, BILP-101) for CO2 capture and separation from mixed gas streams. The polymer is synthesized using a template-free polycondensation reaction between commercially available aryl aldehyde and amine-based monomers. Evaluation of BLIP-101 under realistic test conditions demonstrated a sorbent material with exceptional CO2 uptake/working capacity, high CO2 selectivity, as well as superior chemical and thermal stability. The simplified fabrication process will allow for easier commercial scale up at an overall lower production cost. Furthermore, while the neat BILP-101 is a strong physical sorbent, reactivity of the material can be tuned for stronger interaction with CO2 as a chemical sorbent. Possible applications for this technology may include CO2 capture from fossil fueled power plants, natural gas sweetening, biogas updgrading, and CO2 removal from cabin air for life support systems.