Ionic Liquid Recycling
proionic has a proven expertise with the recycling of non-distillable (aprotic) and distillable (protic) Ionic Liquids. Dedicated equipment at various scales is available to recycle Ionic Liquids used in customers’ processes
Recycling of non-distillable Ionic Liquids
In many filament-spinning processes using Ionic Liquids, water is used as antisolvent in the coagulation bath. The simplest and most utilized recycling step is the evaporation of water. Due to the stability of the Ionic Liquids, recycling rates above 99% can be achieved.
proionic assists its customers in choosing the right recycling technology to achieve the desired water content in the recycled product.
Recycling of Distillabel Ionic Liquids
The selective extraction of lignin from lignocellulosic feedstocks is done with Distillable Ionic Liquids, which are significantly cheaper compared to aprotic Ionic Liquids. The core innovation of the HIPE-REC® process is the efficient distillation of Distillable Ionic Liquid from the previously filtered lignin containing fraction. Specially designed horizontal dryers are available at proionic at lab-scale to perform the recycling step. Demo-units are available at proionic’s cooperation partner GIG-Karasek, who can also deliver those units at industrial scale.
Ionic Liquid Recycling specials
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aprotic Ionic Liquids
The recycling of EMIM OAc and EMIM OOc is noncritical in terms of safety and toxicity. Both Ionic Liquids are OEKO-TEX® certified and have no boiling point. During recycling only water is evaporated, and the water content is adjusted according to the needs of the process. proionic is able to recycle aprotic Ionic Liquids used in diverse applications in the kg to low-ton-scale.
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Distillable Ionic Liquids
This class of Ionic Liquids is recycled by evaporation of the Ionic Liquid itself, out of the highly viscous biomass. Therefore, the continuous generation of new surface during distillation is of high importance, requiring an efficient mixing during processing, which cannot be realized in standard evaporators. proionic owns IPR and dedicated equipment to demonstrate efficient recycling of Distillable Ionic Liquids on kg-scale.
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custom manufacturing of Distillable Ionic Liquids
proionic produces and supplies various Distillable Ionic Liquids. If you can’t find the desired candidate in our portfolio we can custom synthesize it.
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REACH registration support
proionic has already scaled up and successfully REACH registered several products. The experience is in-house to both scale-up the production to ton-scale and gain the necessary legal requirements with the ECHA for your custom synthesized Ionic Liquid
Key benefits of partnering with proionic
01
Ionic Liquid Recycling experience
proionic has the know-how in preventing decomposition during the recycling of the Ionic Liquids and in avoiding undesired reaction products between cellulose and the Ionic Liquid in several processes.
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Analytical expertise
Equipped with all relevant analytical equipment to quality-control the Ionic Liquid itself, proionic gained experience in the analysis and identification of potential impurities and decomposition products
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Refurbishment of recycled product
proionic has strong developmental and practical experience in not only identifying but also removing impurities in the used and recycled Ionic Liquids.
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Engineering background
In addition to our strong chemical knowledge we also have experienced process engineers in our team.
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Patented HIPE-REC® process
Many different functional groups can be incorporated into the cation or the anion which allows flexible design of Ionic Liquids specifically adjusted to the demands of the application.
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Strong industrial network
Since ionic liquids are a relatively new material class with exceptional characteristics, there is still room for further innovation, new findings and related new IP/IPR.
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