Study of ionic liquid cations transport in soil.

Ionic liquids are a form of organic or inorganic molten salts consisting positive and negative ions. There have been several attempts of their utilization in industry. These substances can be released from industrial sites into water and soils thus causing contamination. The most significant chemical processes affecting the behavior of ionic liquid cations in soils are related to their transport. The major aim of this work was to investigate the transport process of imidazolium ionic liquids in soils by column leaching experiments. Five types of soil with varying total organic carbon (TOC) content (<0.1%, 0.5%, 4%, 9.9%, 44.8%), were utilized in the study of transportation of three ionic liquid chlorides namely: 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium (EMIM), 1-n-butyl-3-methylimidazolium (BMIM), 1-n-hexyl-3-methylimidazolium (HMIM). The results obtained indicated significant ability to immobilize ionic liquid cations by soils with higher organic carbon content. The higher TOC value in soil results in lower amounts of solutes migrating through the soil. Factorial regression has been applied to modeling of the results. It relates soil and the ionic liquid cation properties to the retardation of this cation in soil profile.