Wetting processes in supported ionic liquid membranes technology

Ionic liquids are widely used in supported ionic liquid membranes technology, especially in gas separation and purification processes. This work characterizes the ability of ionic liquids to wet commercially available porous supports used for such purposes. Characterization of supports and membrane phases was carried out in order to determine factors influencing wetting process. Experimental method based on capillary rise is widely used for porous media characterization (i.e. pore radius, contact angle). Measurements of penetration distance or liquid mass are two main experimental methods, in which the Washburn equation is a basic instrument to analyze the obtained results. However, polymeric porous supports do not meet Washburn assumptions and the method is loaded with human errors, so the sessile drop method was used. The rate of wetting influences swelling effects and therefore changes in permeation path during gas separation processes are observed. Influence of ionic liquids structure on wetting and swelling of porous supports was investigated. The families of 1-alkyl-3-methylimidazolium (Cnmim), ammonium (Nnnnn), 1-alkyl-1-methylpyrrolidinium (CnPyrr) and 1-alkylpyridinium (CnPy) compounds with variable alkyl chain lengths in cation structures and changeable anions were taken into account in wetting and swelling experiments