Development of New Supported Ionic Liquid Membranas and Its Application in Supercritical Fluid Extraction of Organic Compounds from Aqueous Solutions

Abstract

The main goal of this proposal involves the extraction of organic compounds from aqueous solutions by means of two innovative techniques: supercritical carbon dioxide as extraction solvent and gelled ionic liquid membranes as separation medium. Room Temperature Ionic Liquids (RTIL) are organic salts with low melting points, which have been accepted as a new type of green solvents and reaction media. RTILs can reduce the use of solvents due to their unique physical properties as well as taking part in various new syntheses. Ionic liquids have become the partner of supercritical carbon dioxide (SC CO2) in many applications and the most of the studies reported in the literature are focused on the interaction of these two “green” solvents. Therefore, the major purpose of this project is to provide a new application that couples the use of ionic liquids to near-critical and supercritical fluids, reducing the required volumes of ionic liquids and optimizing the extraction percentage of organic compounds from an aqueous solution by means of a stable ionic liquid membrane. Thus, the studied process will benefit from the selectivity of both Green solvents to obtain high quality products without cross contamination. In the proposed process, a gelled ionic liquid will be stabilized in a porous supporting membrane. This membrane will separate two circulating phases: on one side, an aqueous solution containing an organic soluteThe main goal of this proposal involves the extraction of organic compounds from aqueous solutions by means of two innovative techniques: supercritical carbon dioxide as extraction solvent and gelled ionic liquid membranes as separation medium. Room Temperature Ionic Liquids (RTIL) are organic salts with low melting points, which have been accepted as a new type of green solvents and reaction media. RTILs can reduce the use of solvents due to their unique physical properties as well as taking part in various new syntheses. Ionic liquids have become the partner of supercritical carbon dioxide (SC CO2) in many applications and the most of the studies reported in the literature are focused on the interaction of these two “green” solvents. Therefore, the major purpose of this project is to provide a new application that couples the use of ionic liquids to near-critical and supercritical fluids, reducing the required volumes of ionic liquids and optimizing the extraction percentage of organic compounds from an aqueous solution by means of a stable ionic liquid membrane. Thus, the studied process will benefit from the selectivity of both Green solvents to obtain high quality products without cross contamination. In the proposed process, a gelled ionic liquid will be stabilized in a porous supporting membrane. This membrane will separate two circulating phases: on one side, an aqueous solution containing an organic soluteThe main goal of this proposal involves the extraction of organic compounds from aqueous solutions by means of two innovative techniques: supercritical carbon dioxide as extraction solvent and gelled ionic liquid membranes as separation medium. Room Temperature Ionic Liquids (RTIL) are organic salts with low melting points, which have been accepted as a new type of green solvents and reaction media. RTILs can reduce the use of solvents due to their unique physical properties as well as taking part in various new syntheses. Ionic liquids have become the partner of supercritical carbon dioxide (SC CO2) in many applications and the most of the studies reported in the literature are focused on the interaction of these two “green” solvents. Therefore, the major purpose of this project is to provide a new application that couples the use of ionic liquids to near-critical and supercritical fluids, reducing the required volumes of ionic liquids and optimizing the extraction percentage of organic compounds from an aqueous solution by means of a stable ionic liquid membrane. Thus, the studied process will benefit from the selectivity of both Green solvents to obtain high quality products without cross contamination. In the proposed process, a gelled ionic liquid will be stabilized in a porous supporting membrane. This membrane will separate two circulating phases: on one side, an aqueous solution containing an organic solute