16
M. B. Shiflett et al.
1.6 Industrial Activities at the Turn of the Century
in Europe
How could the new (second generation) RTILs find their way into industrial processes? A key premise was the availability on a large scale, so that such processes
could be successful. Another important factor that promoted the use of ionic liquids
was a strong cooperation between academic consortia and industry.
In 1999, the QUILL Research Centre at the Queen’s University, Belfast, Northern Ireland, was founded by the late Professor Seddon OBE and Professor Swindall. QUILL’s statutes are similar to the US NSF Industry-University Cooperative
Research Center model, where research is supported by an industrial advisory board
[43, 79, 80]. As previously discussed, one year later in 2000, a NATO-sponsored
advanced research workshop in Greece further promoted the interest in ionic liquids
[81]. In 2004, a document that displayed a roadmap for ionic liquids in industrial
innovation followed in which both scientific and business issues were addressed [82].
Dr. Plechkova and Professor Seddon gave a comprehensive overview of industrial
applications of ionic liquids in their 2008 review with 148 listed references. Many
items represent a cluster of book chapters, journal papers, technical reports, and
patents [83]. Their work portrays an account of early industrial applications of ionic
liquids in great detail. Notably, they pointed out—in contrast to the general notion at
that time—that the developments of ionic liquids regarding academic research and
industry were parallel from the very beginning.
In Germany, DECHEMA (originally “Deutsche Gesellschaft für chemisches
Apparatewesen”) did a similar job to that of QUILL in the UK, namely in promoting IL science. DECHEMA is a non-profit organization with 5800 members,
both individual persons and institutional members, which defines itself as a hub
of interdisciplinary knowledge exchange [84]. Under the auspices of DECHEMA
and organized by Professor Wasserscheid from the RWTH Aachen University, the
first international “Green Solvents Conference” was held in 2002 that was followed
by seven additional meetings in a biennial interval. One-third of the approximately
220 participants of the first meeting came from industry [85]. Discussions were not
restricted to only ionic liquids, but also included the so-called alternative solvents,
meaning alternatives to traditional volatile organic solvents. In 2005, DECHEMA
hosted “COIL 1,” the First International Congress on Ionic Liquids, at Salzburg, Austria. A section entitled “Alternative Solvents” was established within the organization
in 2003, and a policy paper entitled “Advanced Fluids—New Solvent Concepts for
Process and Product Optimization” came out in 2006 [86]. The following Green
Solvent Conferences kept the interdisciplinary orientation. Notably, the section “Advanced Fluids” was dissolved by 2018 (with 160 members at that time). The acting
organizing committee did this because the “mission of establishing alternative solvents is accomplished.” As ionic liquids or alternative solvents gained importance
within the scientific community, the organizers of other conferences in relevant fields
also began to establish sessions explicitly dedicated to them, often labeled with terms
like “Green Chemistry.” For example, the European Conference on Molten Salts that
M. B. Shiflett et al.
1.6 Industrial Activities at the Turn of the Century
in Europe
How could the new (second generation) RTILs find their way into industrial processes? A key premise was the availability on a large scale, so that such processes
could be successful. Another important factor that promoted the use of ionic liquids
was a strong cooperation between academic consortia and industry.
In 1999, the QUILL Research Centre at the Queen’s University, Belfast, Northern Ireland, was founded by the late Professor Seddon OBE and Professor Swindall. QUILL’s statutes are similar to the US NSF Industry-University Cooperative
Research Center model, where research is supported by an industrial advisory board
[43, 79, 80]. As previously discussed, one year later in 2000, a NATO-sponsored
advanced research workshop in Greece further promoted the interest in ionic liquids
[81]. In 2004, a document that displayed a roadmap for ionic liquids in industrial
innovation followed in which both scientific and business issues were addressed [82].
Dr. Plechkova and Professor Seddon gave a comprehensive overview of industrial
applications of ionic liquids in their 2008 review with 148 listed references. Many
items represent a cluster of book chapters, journal papers, technical reports, and
patents [83]. Their work portrays an account of early industrial applications of ionic
liquids in great detail. Notably, they pointed out—in contrast to the general notion at
that time—that the developments of ionic liquids regarding academic research and
industry were parallel from the very beginning.
In Germany, DECHEMA (originally “Deutsche Gesellschaft für chemisches
Apparatewesen”) did a similar job to that of QUILL in the UK, namely in promoting IL science. DECHEMA is a non-profit organization with 5800 members,
both individual persons and institutional members, which defines itself as a hub
of interdisciplinary knowledge exchange [84]. Under the auspices of DECHEMA
and organized by Professor Wasserscheid from the RWTH Aachen University, the
first international “Green Solvents Conference” was held in 2002 that was followed
by seven additional meetings in a biennial interval. One-third of the approximately
220 participants of the first meeting came from industry [85]. Discussions were not
restricted to only ionic liquids, but also included the so-called alternative solvents,
meaning alternatives to traditional volatile organic solvents. In 2005, DECHEMA
hosted “COIL 1,” the First International Congress on Ionic Liquids, at Salzburg, Austria. A section entitled “Alternative Solvents” was established within the organization
in 2003, and a policy paper entitled “Advanced Fluids—New Solvent Concepts for
Process and Product Optimization” came out in 2006 [86]. The following Green
Solvent Conferences kept the interdisciplinary orientation. Notably, the section “Advanced Fluids” was dissolved by 2018 (with 160 members at that time). The acting
organizing committee did this because the “mission of establishing alternative solvents is accomplished.” As ionic liquids or alternative solvents gained importance
within the scientific community, the organizers of other conferences in relevant fields
also began to establish sessions explicitly dedicated to them, often labeled with terms
like “Green Chemistry.” For example, the European Conference on Molten Salts that