Síntese de líquidos iônicos para extração de mercúrio

Abstract

Reducing the impacts caused by soil and water pollution is fundamental for improving environmental security and ensuring quality of life. Numerous techniques have now been developed to minimize the impacts generated by heavy metal contamination in waters. The liquid-liquid extraction process appears as a good option for recovery of metallic ions in aqueous solutions. However, in this technique it makes use of solvents, which in most cases are organic and have a high volatility coupled with a toxicological potential. However, an option for organic solvents is the use of Ionic Liquids (LIs) at room temperature. LIs emerge as a clean alternative to almost all metals and can be used as extraction agent in its pure form or with organic solvents. Under such motivation, the present work consisted in synthesizing and selecting ionic liquids based on the pyridinium and imidazolium cations and applying them as solvents in the extraction process. Therefore, the extraction capacity of the mercury ion in the standard solution with the 3-octyl-1-methyl-1-H-imidazol-3-yl [C8 MIM] [NTf2] bis (trifluoromethylsulfonyl) imide liquid was analyzed. The results were satisfactory, quantified by analyzing the aqueous solution using the atomic absorption spectroscopy method.