Application of Ionic Liquids in the Upstream oil Industry-A Review

Abstract

Ionic liquids are gaining much attention as green chemicals due to their unique properties such as extremely low vapor pressure, high thermal and chemical stability, low toxicity and possibility of tuning their cation and anion moieties to make them task-specific. In the chemical industry, they are well established for innumerable processes and applications and several review articles are available. Contrary to this the applications of ionic liquids in the upstream petroleum industry is relatively new and not enough review articles are available. This article discusses the applications of ionic liquids in areas such as CO 2 capture and separation which could be used for enhanced oil recovery and sequestration, heavy crude oil upgradation and viscosity reduction, interfacial tension and surface tension reduction in order to supplement surfactants in chemical enhanced oil recovery and asphaltene dispersion and inhibition during crude oil production and surface transportation. It aims to highlight the wide range of application possibilities of ionic liquids in the upstream sector of the petroleum industry and to encourage further research into some of these areas in order to develop environmentally friendly alternatives to current processes.