Sorption and desorption of imidazolium based ionic liquids in different soil types

This study investigates the influence of the two different clay minerals kaolinite and smectite as well as of organic matter on the cation sorption and desorption behaviour of three imidazolium based ionic liquids -1-butyl-3-methyl-imidazolium tetrafluoroborate (IM14 BF(4)), 1-methyl-3-octyl-imidazolium tetrafluoroborate (IM18 BF(4)) and 1-butyl-3-methyl-imidazolium bis(trifluoromethyl)sulfonyl]imide (IM14 (CF(3)SO(2))(2)N) - in soil. The German standard soil Lufa 2.2 - a natural soil classified as a loamy sand - was the basis substrate for the different soil compositions and also served as a reference soil. The addition of organic matter and clays increases the sorption of the substances and in particular smectite had striking effects on the sorption capacity for all three ionic liquids indicating that ionic interactions play an important role for sorption and desorption processes of ionic liquids in soil. One exception was for kaolinite-containing soils and the IM14 cation: with (CF(3)SO(2))(2)N(-) as an anion the sorption was identical at either 10 wt% or 15 wt% clay content, and with BF(4)(-) sorption was even lower at 15 wt% kaolinite than at 10 wt%. Desorption was weak for IM18 BF(4), presumably owing to the longer alkyl side chain. With regard to the influence of kaolinite on desorption, the same pattern was observed as it was found for the sorption of IM14 BF(4) and IM14 (CF(3)SO(2))(2)N.