Microwave-assisted separation of ionic liquids from aqueous solution of ionic liquids

Microwave-assisted separation has been applied to recover ionic liquid (IL) from its aqueous solution as an efficient method with respect to time and energy compared to the conventional vacuum distillation Hydrophilic ILs such as 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate ([Bmim][BF4]) 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium trifluoromethanesulfonate ([Bmim][TfO]) and 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium methylsulfate ([Emim][MS]) could be recovered in 6min from the mixture of ILs and water (1 1 w/w) under microwave irradiation at constant power of 10W while It took at least 240 min to obtain ILs containing same water content (less than 05 wt%) by conventional vacuum oven at 363 15K with 90 kPa of vacuum pressure Energy consumptions per gram of evaporated water from the homogeneous mixture of hydrophilic ILs and water (1 1 w/w) by microwave-assisted separation were at least 52 times more efficient than those in conventional vacuum oven It demonstrated that microwave-assisted separation could be used for complete recovery of ILs in sense of time and energy as well as relevant purity (C) 2010 Elsevier B V All rights reserved