Patent ID: 7938891

Claim:
A system to separate carbon dioxide from a gas stream comprising: a cathodic component and an anodic component with a region between them and structured such that, with oxygen and carbon dioxide at the cathodic component and hydrogen-containing molecules that can provide protons at the anodic component, reactions occur producing carbon-containing ions; the carbon-containing ions transporting from the cathodic component to the anodic component and reacting at the anodic component to form carbon dioxide; and an ionic liquid component in the region between the cathodic component and the anodic component, the ionic liquid component including sufficient ionic liquid to permit the transport of the carbon-containing ions between the cathodic component and the anodic component while reducing ionic current density of at least one of protons between the anodic component and the cathodic component and hydroxyl ions between the cathodic component and the anodic component, relative to ionic current density of the carbon-containing ions.