Issue 7, 2023

A techno-economic approach to guide the selection of flow recyclable ionic liquids for nanoparticle synthesis

Abstract

Ionic liquids (ILs) are an important class of solvents that can be sustainable alternatives to conventional volatile organic solvents owing to their non-flammability, negligible vapor pressures, and high thermal and chemical stabilities. While several advantages to employing ILs as reaction solvents in colloidal inorganic nanoparticle syntheses have been demonstrated, their significantly higher purchase costs compared to traditional organic solvents creates a large barrier in utilizing them at scale. However, a unique characteristic of ILs is their potential to be recycled and reused in subsequent nanoparticle reactions, which may offer a potential cost offset by reducing the amount of solvent needed over the lifetime of a process. Herein, we report an experimentally guided, early-stage techno-economic analysis of a model platinum nanoparticle synthesis using a matrix of six different ILs as the reaction solvent. A continuous flow membrane separation system was used for the purification of the ILs using acidified water, allowing both water-immiscible and water-miscible ILs to be recycled. Unsurprisingly, each of these ILs have different bulk prices, however, this synthesis-driven economic analysis revealed the impact of the synthetic consequences of varying the IL solvent system, such as different nanoparticle yields and variable solvent recoveries based on their water miscibility.

Graphical abstract: A techno-economic approach to guide the selection of flow recyclable ionic liquids for nanoparticle synthesis

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
08 6月 2023
Accepted
10 9月 2023
First published
14 9月 2023
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY-NC license

RSC Sustain., 2023,1, 1861-1873

A techno-economic approach to guide the selection of flow recyclable ionic liquids for nanoparticle synthesis

L. R. Karadaghi, B. Pan, F. G. Baddour, N. Malmstadt and R. L. Brutchey, RSC Sustain., 2023, 1, 1861 DOI: 10.1039/D3SU00182B

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications, without requesting further permission from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given and it is not used for commercial purposes.

To request permission to reproduce material from this article in a commercial publication, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party commercial publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements