Recent Progress in Separation Technology Based on Ionic Liquid Membranes

© 2017 Scrivener Publishing LLC. All rights reserved. Ionic liquids (ILs) are considered as a green alternative to conventional organic solvents due to their unique properties and thus their applications in chemical processes have multiplied within the last years, with a growing interest in the scientific community. In the field of separation technology, a wide range of new processes based on ionic liquids has been developed for the selective separation of chemical species, namely organic compounds, metal ions, biomolecules and mixed gases. The use of ionic liquids as liquid membrane phase could greatly reduce environmental impact thanks to their great features such as negligible vapor pressure and the possibility of minimizing their solubility by the adequate selection of their chemical structure. Furthermore, ionic liquids of low toxicity could be designed and synthesized. This chapter provides an overview of the recent advances in separation technology using ionic liquid-based membranes. It has been divided into sections according to the way ionic liquids are used in separation technology specifically bulk ionic liquid membranes, emulsion liquid membranes and immobilized ionic liquid membranes, which in turn comprises supported membranes polymer inclusion membranes, polymeric membranes, membranes based on the gelation of ionic liquids and other novel techniques. Moreover, this chapter covers relevant issues in ionic liquid-based separation technology such as methods of preparation, mechanisms of transport, stability and fields of application.