Recovery of magnetic ionic liquid [bmim]FeCl4 using electromagnet

Recovery of 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrachloroferrate ([bmim]FeCl2) from its mixture with water was investigated. The [bmim]FeCl4 rich phase in the mixture forming two-phase was successfully separated, while homogeneous mixtures could not be separated. However, the concentration of the homogeneous mixture varied as a function of the magnetic field strength. Therefore, a combination of magnetic field and conventional methods to recover magnetic ILs from reaction mixtures will be very useful and have great potential.