(694b) Commercial Applications of Ionic Liquids

Several processes and products have been developed using ionic liquids (ILs) in the past decade; however, the general belief is ILs are only academic curiosities and are too expensive to use in commercial applications. This presentation which is based on a new book entitled “Commercial Applications of Ionic Liquids” will highlight several applications using ionic liquids. A few examples which will be highlighted in this presentation include: (1) a new class of capillary gas chromatography (GC) columns with stationary phases based on ILs which have been developed by Professor Daniel Armstrong at the University of Texas in Arlington; (2) the development of a new chloroaluminate IL-based alkylation catalyst by Chevron as an alternative to using corrosive and toxic hydrofluoric acid (HF) as a catalyst; (3) a new process for electrospinning bionrenewable chitin sorbents for uranium extraction from seawater using ILs developed by Professor Robin Rogers and 525 Solutions; (4) the deconstruction of biomass using ILs prepared by Jason Hallett at Imperial College; and (5) the development of supported ionic liquid phase (SILP) materials for catalysis by Prof. Dr. Peter Wasserscheid at the Universitat Erlangen, Germany. In all over 50 applications have been developed at the pilot or commercial scale and companies manufacturing ionic liquids will also be highlighted.