| Summary: | This work proposes a microfluidic gas – ionic liquid contactor for CO2 removal from anaesthesia gas, containing Xe. The working principle involves the transport of CO2 through a polymer flat membrane followed by its capture and enzymatic bioconversion in the ionic liquid solvent. Microfluidic devices enable a rapid and inexpensive screening of potential CO2 absorbers. The alveolar – type design of the ionic liquid chamber was adopted to reduce mass transfer limitations of CO2 through the liquid phase. Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) was the chosen polymer for dense membrane, as well as for the microfluidic device fabrication, mainly due to the high permeability of gases, O2 and CO2, and low cost. The selected ionic liquid was cholinium propionate (CP) with a water activity of 0.753, due to its high affinity towards CO2 and biocompatibility with the enzyme used for CO2 conversion to bicarbonate, carbonic anhydrase (CA).
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