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ABSTRACT
Increasing concern about environmental issues, has directed the attention of the scientific community to novel processes based on ‘’greener’’ technologies, such as the replacement of traditional organic solvents with more environmentally friendly alternatives. Ionic liquids are a massively growing sector that has been the object of numerous studies. It has been proved that, taking into consideration their interesting properties, ionic liquids could be a solution to the problem.
Protic ionic liquids are a subcategory of ionic liquids and are synthesized via a proton transfer reaction, between equimolar quantities of a Bronsted acid and base. They have various advantages such as the lower cost of synthesis and their high purity because of the elimination of byproducts, during the synthetic process. Due to their interesting properties, ionic liquids can be utilized in fuels, lubricants and as entrainers in separation processes of azeotropic mixtures.
The synthesis and structural characterization of the synthesized protic ionic liquids, are studied, during the present thesis. Ionic liquids 3-5 were produced for the very first time. The structural characterization of all the ionic liquids was done using nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H NMR). The synthetic process followed a proton transfer reaction from carboxylic acids to amines, according to the following figure:
Another problem posed is the enormous augmentation of the utilization of fossil fuels, which is a finite source and so we are up against a gradual exhaustion of this source. As a result, it is vital that, alternate sources are discovered and that they will be efficient, renewable and viable. One possible source is biofuels and more specifically bioethanol. The problem with bioethanol is the difficulty of its separation from water, with the highest possible purity, due to the azeotropic mixture they form.
Recently there has been great interest in the utilization of ionic liquids, in separation processes of azeotropic mixtures, such as extractive distillation. Two out of total five ionic liquids were used in the extractive distillation of the azeotropic mixture of ethanol and water, in order for their effect to be studied: formic 2-hydroxy-ethylammonium (1) and butyric 2-hydroxy ethylammonium (2).
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Both entrainers led to increased relative volatility of ethanol and consequently the azeotropic point was displaced or even completely broken. The azeotropic point disappeared using an initial concentration of less than 5% of IL1 and approximately 6,5-7% of IL2.
Next, the biodegradation levels of the newly synthesized ionic liquids (3-5) were measured. The biodegradation levels were assessed using the standard manometric method of determining the BOD5 parameter. The percentage of biodegradation in some cases went up to 34%. |
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