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Green ionic liquids and deep eutectic solvents for desulphurization, denitrification, biomass, biodiesel, bioethanol and hydrogen fuels: a review

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Abstract

The fossil fuel industry faces issues of atmospheric pollution by sulphur and nitrogen compounds, and emerging competition from electricity, solar, wind and hydrogen sectors. As a consequence, green solvents such as ionic liquids and deep eutectic solvents have been recently developed for alternative fuel purification. Deep eutectic solvents are usually more efficient and better biodegradable, whereas ionic liquids display qualities for safety and optimization. Some ionic liquids and deep eutectic solvents allow a 100% removal efficiency of sulphur and nitrogen compounds from petroleum. Biodiesel yields up to 98.1% are reached using green solvents. Pretreatment of biomass with green solvents has been found to increase by 50% the bioethanol yield.

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Abbreviations

ChCl:

Choline chloride

CO2 :

Carbon dioxide

SOx:

Sulphur oxides

NOx:

Nitrogen oxides

PM:

Particulate matter

VOCs:

Volatile organic compounds

ILs:

Ionic liquids

HF:

Hydrogen fluoride

HCl:

Hydrochloric acid

DESs:

Deep eutectic solvents

HBDs:

Hydrogen bond donors

HBAs:

Hydrogen bond acceptors

N2O:

Nitrous oxide

FeCl3 :

Ferric chloride

[BMI][N(CN)2]):

1-Butyl-3-methylimidazolium dicyanamide

[EMI][N(CN)2]:

1-Ethyl-3-methylimidazolium dicyanamide

Emim:

1-Ethyl-3-methylimidazolium

Bmim:

1-Butyl-3-methylimidazolium

Hmim:

1-Methyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride

OMIM:

1-Methyl-3-octylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate

NMMO:

N-Methylmorpholine N-oxide

OAc:

Acetate group

BPY:

Butylpyridinium bromide

p-TsOH:

p-Toluene sulphonic acid

COPD:

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

EG-TBAB:

Ethylene glycol-tetra butyl ammonium bromide

FAME:

Fatty acid methyl esters

MTBE:

Methyl ter-butyl ether

AFEX:

Ammonia fibre explosion

NADES:

Natural deep eutectic solvents

[TEA][PS·BF4]:

Triethylammonium-propanesulphonic acid tetrafluoroborate

PEFCs:

Polymer electrolyte fuel cells

[dema][TfO]:

Diethylmethylammonium trifluoromethanesulphonate

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank www.freepik.com for the source of diagrams.

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Correspondence to Kannappan Panchamoorthy Gopinath.

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The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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Malolan, R., Gopinath, K.P., Vo, DV.N. et al. Green ionic liquids and deep eutectic solvents for desulphurization, denitrification, biomass, biodiesel, bioethanol and hydrogen fuels: a review. Environ Chem Lett 19, 1001–1023 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10311-020-01113-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10311-020-01113-7

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