Development of supported ionic liquid membranes for the purification of glycerol carbonate using pervaporation

Global warming and the depletion of fossil fuels are today's concerns that are urging humanity to find greener and more sustainable ways to produce energy. In this way, biofuels have immerged as a credible alternative. However, the transition from ready-to-consume fuels to biofuels is not without consequences: the already known processes have to be enhanced; to be more efficient, less energy-intensive or expensive and are expected to be truly distant from the drawbacks inherent in the consumption of fossil fuels (toxicity, energy dependency, etc.). Nowadays, Europe mainly produces biodiesel from the transesterification of triglycerides, which forms glycerol as a byproduct. Glycerol - in clear oversupply - has clearly been the Achilles heel of the production of biodiesel (measured in millions of cubic meters a year). It has consequently become more and more economically attractive to develop techniques to make profit from it. Glycerol carbonate is an expensive derivative of glycerol and several synthetic routes already exist that open up the field of possibilities. Among them, the reaction between DMC and glycerol sounds quite interesting but involves important issues in the purification of glycerol carbonate by classical separation techniques (distillation, extraction) because of close boiling points and azeotropes. Hence, this work aims to develop a membrane technique alternative to manage this purification. A choice was made to focus on supported ionic liquid membranes, which are a rather young membrane-based technology, but quite promising thoughMaster [120] : ingénieur civil en chimie et science des matériaux, Université catholique de Louvain, 201