Reactions and Separations in Green Solvents

Title

Reactions and Separations in Green Solvents

 Author

Van Spronsen, J.

Contributor

Witkamp, G.J. (promotor)
Verpoorte, R. (promotor)

Faculty

Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering

 Department

Process and Energy

 Date

2010-06-08

 Abstract

Most chemical processes involve solvents in the reaction and the separation step. These solvents give rise to a heavy environmental and economical burden. Moreover, these solvents are based on non-sustainable resources like petroleum. The aim of this thesis has been to develop a number of alternative processes based upon green (sustainable) solvents, and to demonstrate that these processes can be economically and ecologically advantageous. The green solvents investigated were water (polar, protic), supercritical carbon dioxide (apolar, aprotic) and ionic liquids. Water was used for the recovery of soda and molybdate by eutectic freeze crystallization from an industrial waste stream, leading to a zero waste discharge process. Supercritical carbon dioxide was shown to be an excellent solvent for the extraction of natural products like cannabis, for the foaming of polystyrene and for the dyeing of cotton. In a number of reactions ionic liquids were good replacements for traditional solvents. The first generation ionic liquids are based upon petroleum chemicals. In this thesis ionic liquids based upon natural products were synthesized and successfully applied. Based upon these results it can be concluded that the replacement of oil based solvents by green solvents is only a question of time.

 Subject

green solvents
ionic liquids
supercritical carbon dioxide
eutectic freeze crystallisation

 To reference this document use:

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:7bfcb53d-b0b9-4e5f-859c-c7504985567a

 ISBN

9789090253879

 Part of collection

Institutional Repository

 Document type

doctoral thesis

 Rights

(c) 2010 Van Spronsen, J.
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