Ionic Liquids – Development and Challenges in Industrial Application

Abstract

Establishment of novel, highly productive, and sustainable processes for the production of industrially important compounds is becoming a growing area of research. Due to non-volatility, inflammability, great thermal, chemical and electrochemical stability and also recyclability, ionic liquids are extensively studied as possible green replacement for widely used conventional molecular solvents. Due to the extremely large number of possible chemical structures of ionic liquids, the ability to design ionic liquids for specific applications makes them unique solvents in electrochemistry, analytical chemistry, organic synthesis and (bio)catalysis, separation processes, as well as functional fluids (lubricants, heat transfer fluids, corrosion inhibitors etc.). This paper presents a review of the scientific and technical literature related to ionic liquids, their basic properties, preparation and application, as well as the challenges of their application on an industrial scale.

Keywords

• green processes
• Ionic liquids
• designer solvents