Recent progress in ionic liquid membranes for gas separation

Abstract

Developing new techniques and methods that can compete with conventional industrial processes for gas separation is a hot topic in the current research. Over the past few years, important developments in ionic liquids-based materials for industrial gas separation have been accomplished. This paper provides a comprehensive review on the recent progress of Ionic Liquid Membranes (ILMs) for the gas separation. The supported ionic liquid membranes and their membrane stability were firstly discussed followed by polymer-ionic liquid composite membranes, ionic liquid-gel membranes, and polymer/ionic liquid/inorganic composite membrane. Material selection, membranes formation and separation results were reviewed in the context of challenges and opportunities. Furthermore, future feasible approaches for the developments of ionic liquid membranes for gas separations were also discussed.