(386e) First Proof of Supported Hydrophobic Deep Eutectic Solvent Liquids Membranes for the Removal of Furfural and 5-(hydroxymethyl)Furfural from an Aqueous Environment

 Carin H.J.T. Dietz^a, Maaike C. Kroon^b, Martin van Sint Annaland^a, Fausto Gallucci^a

^a Chemical Process Intensification, Dept. of Chemical Engineering and Chemistry, Eindhoven University of Technology, PO Box 513, Eindhoven, Netherlands

^b The Petroleum Institute, Chemical Engineering Department, P.O. Box 2533, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

Deep Eutectic Solvents (DESs) are designer solvents, which were first presented in literature by Abbot et al. in 2003.^[1] In this publication a variation of amides and choline chloride, all in a 2:1 ratio, were mixed, where the combination of urea and choline chloride gave the lowest melting point (12 °C). A DES is in most cases a combination of at least one hydrogen bond donor (HBD) and one hydrogen bond acceptor (HBA). It is often claimed that DESs provide the same advantages as ionic liquids (ILs), where their easy preparation (mixing at moderate temperatures) is an advantage over ILs.^[2] Until recently, most DESs have been hydrophilic due to the nature of the chosen constituents of the DESs. In 2015, the first hydrophobic DESs have been presented, which were a combination of decanoic acid and quaternary ammonium salts.^[3]

In this work, the thermophysical properties (density, viscosity, glass transition temperature, decomposition temperature) of various newly designed hydrophobic DESs were measured first. The furfural (FF) and 5-(hydroxymethyl)furfural (HMF) extraction coefficients were determined in different hydrophobic DESs from an aqueous environment. Furthermore, liquid impregnated membranes were prepared for the first time from hydrophobic DESs and fully characterized. Finally, the diffusion of FF and HMF from an aqueous solution with different hydrophobic DESs liquid membranes was tested. Detailed results will be presented and discussed at the conference.

[1] A. P. Abbot, G. Capper, D. L. Davies, R. K Rasheed, V. Tambyrajah “Novel solvent properties of choline chloride/urea mixtures” Chemical Communication, 2003, 70-71.

[2] M. Francisco, A. van den Bruinhorst, M.C. Kroon, Low-Transition-Temperature Mixtures (LTTMs): A New Generation of Designer Solvents, Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 2012, 52, 3074-3085.

[3] D. J. G. P. van Osch, L. F. Zubeir, A. van den Bruinhorst, M. A. A. Rocha, M. C. Kroon, Hydrophobic deep eutectic solvents as water-immiscible extractants, Green Chemistry, 2015, 17, 4518-4521.

Acknowledgements

This work was performed under the framework of InSciTe Horizontal project and with contributions from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) within the framework of OP-Zuid and with contributions from the province of Brabant and Limburg and the Dutch ministry of economy