Like conventional salts, they are conductible and, however, liquidly available at room temperature. Compared with conventional solvents, they do not evaporate, they are neither combustible nor they contaminate the atmosphere. According to the chosen cation/ anion-combination, ionic liquids offer a multiplicity of synthesis possibilities – and the chance to meet wide-ranged non-polluting aspects. The company Solvent Innovation GmbH in Cologne, the Chair for Chemical Engineering of the Bayreuth University and the Chair for Chemical Reaction Technology of the Erlangen-Nuremberg University jointly developed a new extraction procedure for the desulphurization of diesel on the basis of ionic liquids.With these «smart solutions», the scientists want to clearly reduce the sulphur concentration of diesel below 10 ppm.

If a «made-to-measure» liquid salt for the sulphur absorption is added to the diesel, one gets two separate phases: one with the now less sulphur-containing diesel, and another one which is due to its absorption ability strongly enriched with sulphuric compounds. The liquid salts can be skimmed off after the extraction process and can be reused, respectively. The use of ionic solvents can replace the conventional technology for the desulphurisation of diesel. The innovative procedure's goal is to desulfurise diesel henceforth more efficiently and resource-sparing and simultaneously improve the process reliability.