Investigating the Potential Use of Ionic Liquids in Pre-Treatment Application for Water Desalination

Abstract

The world has been noticing a quickening advancement over the last decades in terms of irrigated agriculture, social, industrial, and economical perspectives; followed by a huge increment in the water demand. Therefore, desalination is used all over the world to reduce worldwide water shortage; however, the traditional techniques lead to fossil fuel depletion and global warming. Therefore, scientists are investigating new green and environment-friendly methods to be used by the desalination plants to reduce CO2 emissions and save the natural resources. In this study, the feasibility of using ionic liquids (ILs) as potential means for pre-treatment of seawater desalination was examined. The main aim of this work was to examine the ability of ILs in extracting salts from saline water. As a first step, the solubility of NaCl, MgCl2, and CaCl2 in different ILs at different temperatures were analyzed. The solubility of the salts in ILs increased in most cases with temperature increments; however, the presence of emulsion was seen in a few cases. The highest measured concentration of NaCl was 6,639 ppm at 60 °C in 1,3-Dimethylimidazolium dimethyl phosphate.