Chapter 11
Toward Industrialization of Ionic Liquids
Roland S. Kalb
Abstract By the end of 2018, more than 80,000 scientific papers were published,
and 17,000 patent applications were filed on ionic liquids. The field experienced
an archetypal hype cycle, with inflated expectations followed by a period of disillusionment, and is now on an upward slope of enlightenment. While there are no
massive-scale applications of ionic liquids today, and the market remains behind
the mid-term forecasts, there are many indications that ionic liquids will become
a commercial success story. This chapter summarizes critical statements collected
by surveying 25 academic and industrial leaders. Recent market developments are
discussed and evaluated, including 57 ionic liquid applications that have been commercialized or are being developed on a pilot scale as of 2019. By comparison, there
were only 13 commercial and pilot applications in 2008. In conclusion, the author is
confident that the field will soon reach maturity and ionic liquids will enter megatrend
mass markets.
Keywords Commercialized ionic liquid applications · Emerging technologies ·
Future of ionic liquids · Gartner
® hype cycle · Implemented ionic liquid
applications
11.1 Introduction
The use of high-temperature molten salts dates back to the Shang Dynasty (sixteenth
to eleventh century B.C.), and in the second century B.C., the ancient Chinese commercialized melts of alkali nitrates and chromates for surface modifications (e.g.,
hardening and corrosion protection) of bronze handcrafted weapons [1]. In the modern world, high-temperature molten salts have been used for more than two centuries,
and generations of chemists and engineers have developed a multitude of industrial
processes described elsewhere [2, 3]. With the discovery of the first representative
low-temperature molten salt by Paul Walden in 1914 [4], a new class of molten
salts would be named ionic liquids by Bockris [5] in 1955. From the late 1950s to
R. S. Kalb (B)
proionic GmbH, Raaba-Grambach, Austria
e-mail: roland.kalb@proionic.com
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
M. B. Shiflett (ed.), Commercial Applications of Ionic Liquids, Green Chemistry
and Sustainable Technology, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-35245-5_11
261
Toward Industrialization of Ionic Liquids
Roland S. Kalb
Abstract By the end of 2018, more than 80,000 scientific papers were published,
and 17,000 patent applications were filed on ionic liquids. The field experienced
an archetypal hype cycle, with inflated expectations followed by a period of disillusionment, and is now on an upward slope of enlightenment. While there are no
massive-scale applications of ionic liquids today, and the market remains behind
the mid-term forecasts, there are many indications that ionic liquids will become
a commercial success story. This chapter summarizes critical statements collected
by surveying 25 academic and industrial leaders. Recent market developments are
discussed and evaluated, including 57 ionic liquid applications that have been commercialized or are being developed on a pilot scale as of 2019. By comparison, there
were only 13 commercial and pilot applications in 2008. In conclusion, the author is
confident that the field will soon reach maturity and ionic liquids will enter megatrend
mass markets.
Keywords Commercialized ionic liquid applications · Emerging technologies ·
Future of ionic liquids · Gartner
® hype cycle · Implemented ionic liquid
applications
11.1 Introduction
The use of high-temperature molten salts dates back to the Shang Dynasty (sixteenth
to eleventh century B.C.), and in the second century B.C., the ancient Chinese commercialized melts of alkali nitrates and chromates for surface modifications (e.g.,
hardening and corrosion protection) of bronze handcrafted weapons [1]. In the modern world, high-temperature molten salts have been used for more than two centuries,
and generations of chemists and engineers have developed a multitude of industrial
processes described elsewhere [2, 3]. With the discovery of the first representative
low-temperature molten salt by Paul Walden in 1914 [4], a new class of molten
salts would be named ionic liquids by Bockris [5] in 1955. From the late 1950s to
R. S. Kalb (B)
proionic GmbH, Raaba-Grambach, Austria
e-mail: roland.kalb@proionic.com
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
M. B. Shiflett (ed.), Commercial Applications of Ionic Liquids, Green Chemistry
and Sustainable Technology, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-35245-5_11
261