PRODUCTION OF IONIC LIQUIDS – NEW

REMARKABLE GROUP OF GREEN SOLVENTS

Contact person: Dr. Eng. Piotr Latos

ANA VILA FERREIRO

MARÍA RODRÍGUEZ RODRÍGUEZ
 IONIC LIQUIDS

 Ionic liquids are organic salts, usually consisting of an

organic cation and a polyatomic inorganic anion,
which are liquid under 100°C.

 The most relevant properties of ionic liquids are their

almost negligible vapour pressure.

 Ionic liquids have been recognized as

environmental benign alternative to volatile organic
solvents. They are known as "solvents of the future“.
 APLICATIONS OF IONIC LIQUIDS

 Application of ionic liquids in chemical processes has blossomed within the

last decade. Indeed, they have been used in replacement of volatile
organic solvents in a wide variety of chemical processes, such as
separation and purification, and reaction media in biochemical, and
chemical catalysis.
 INTRODUCTION

Recently, there has been a significant interest in the use of ionic liquids as
environmentally benign solvents for organic synthesis.

Characteristics such as: high thermal stability, low viscosity, wide liquid range,
low vapour pressure and an excellent ability to dissolve organic compounds,
salts and metals, make ILs extremely useful reaction media, which are
becoming increasingly important technologically.
 POLISH MARKET

 On polish market there are only foreign companies offering ionic liquids. The
prices for ionic liquids are very high.

 Lately, they have introduced the technology of different, defined structure

ionic liquids synthesis with very good results.

 They offer high purity ionic liquids for competitive price.

 RESEARCH PROFILE

 the synthesis of ionic liquids

 the synthesis in ionic liquids as a novel solvent

 the synthesis of chromane compounds

 research on the esterification of organic compounds in the ionic liquid

phase

 the synthesis of organic substances with defined structure

 DEVELOPER INFORMATION
 Dr. Eng. Piotr Latos was our guide throw this project.
 Department of Chemical Organic Technology and Petrochemistry
 7 researches
 Piotr.latos@polsl.pl

 Projects
 GovernmentGrants (2)
 Co-operation with Polish industry ZAK S.A.

 Publications in scientific journals such as:

 Catalysis Science & Technology
 Dalton transactions
 ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering
 STATE OF THE ART RESEARCH, PRIOR ART,
COMPETING TECHNOLOGY AND PREMATURE
DISCLOSURE
 There is a lot of publications in the chemistry data bases

 “Green solvents” are very attractive to other researches, not only chemistry.
All researches try to use them in their study.

 From year 2000 a very fast growing interest is shown with a quick-scan on
the internet.

 Specially on the international market. There are some competitors that offer
similar technologies,
 PRESENCE OF COMPLIMENTARY
TECHNOLOGY
 Mostly of the needed components are available but there are only
laboratory scale tests, technical plant needs to be applied.

 The production of environmentally benign solvents for organic synthesis is

expected to be accepted now by the market.
 PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE STATE

 Due to the research is only on lab scale, the further development of the
technology prior to go to the market is not estimated to last very long.

 The revenue expected from the technology is estimated to come relatively

fast due to the low production costs.
 CUSTOMER PRESENCE

Customers already interested in purchase of ionic liquids :

 POCh (polish factory - production and sale of chemical reagents)

 B+R (Building and Road) departments

 APPLICATION OF THE TECHNOLOGY

A wide application area of ionic liquids:

 Organic synthesis

 Electrochemistry

 Material science(e.g. nanoperticles)

 Separation technologies

 Biocatalysis

 Analytics
 NEW GENERATION SOLVENTS

Ionic liquids are a new generation solvents – may accelerate

development of all chemical processes which need to be carried out
in solvent.
 REVENUE GENERATION

Customers will be prepared to pay for:

 additional contract research

 the products (ionic liquids)

 licenses

Ionic liquids are known to be expensive . In 2005, they were available in ton
scale but now the prices are much more affordable.

 PRODUCTION OF IONIC LIQUIDS IS ALREADY PATENTED

 PRESENCE OF NETWORKS

 Horizontal networks are those in which people share a common interest. In

our case that common interest is the production of ionic liquids in Poland.

 On the other hand vertical networks mean that people work together to
get that goal, In our case, there is a little work with complementary
companies.
 INFRASTRUCTURE

 The best housing is already existing fine chemicals factory or chemical

laboratory working in half – technical scale. They are easily available in the
University labs or in Technopark.

 The machinery and equipment that is required is quite common and

available in fine chemicals factories, and glass equipment (reactors) for
production up to 1 ton per year is available in laboratories at the University.
 RESEARCHERS TRACK RECORD

 This is a new chemistry field for the author, even he has already successfully
launched some other technologies on the market.
 PROJECT TEAM

 Supporting tasks (IP protection, funding, marketing, …) can be easily

outsourced to specialized support organizations

 The compensation is not very high. Researchers are working on University

 COSTS

 Development, production and distribution costs are low

 Marketing and sales costs are estimated to be higher since product is very
good known on the chemistry market but this group is not really known in
this field
 BENEFITS

 Considering the costs, the benefits will not be too much

 Income from contract research and licenses income are relatively low
 Only direct product income will be significant