Highly selective and efficient transport of toluene in bulk ionic liquid membranes containing Ag+ as carrier

Ionic liquids have very low vapour pressure and a very high boiling temperature and are therefore a potentially environmentally friendly solvent. In this paper, room-temperature ionic liquids are used as a bulk liquid membrane for separation of toluene from n-heptane. Aromatic hydrocarbon, toluene, is successfully transported through the ionic liquid membrane based on 1-methyl-3-octyl imidazolium chloride. Using silver ion as a carrier in 1-methyl-3-octyl imidazolium chloride membranes, batch wise extraction experiments are carried out. The separation performances, represented by the permeation rate and separation factor, are analyzed systematically by varying the operating parameters: the contact time, concentration of Ag+, stirring effect, initial feed phase concentration and temperature.