Safety
ILs' non-volatility effectively eliminates a major pathway for environmental release and contamination. However, this property is distinct from toxicity. ILs' aquatic toxicity is as severe as or more so than many current solvents. Mortality isn't necessarily the most important metric for measuring impacts in aquatic environments, as sub-lethal concentrations change organisms' life histories in meaningful ways. Balancing VOC reductions against waterway spills (via waste ponds/streams, etc.) requires further research. ILs' substituent diversity simplify the process of identifying compounds that meet safety requirements.
Ultrasound can degrade solutions of imidazolium-based ionic liquids with hydrogen peroxide and acetic acid to relatively innocuous compounds.
Despite low vapor pressure many ionic liquids are combustible and therefore require careful handling. Brief exposure (5 to 7 seconds) to a flame torch can ignite some ILs. Complete combustion is possible for some ILs.
Read more about this topic: Ionic Liquid
Famous quotes containing the word safety:
“Perhaps in a book review it is not out of place to note that the safety of the state depends on cultivating the imagination.”
—Stephen Vizinczey (b. 1933)
“A lover is never a completely self-reliant person viewing the world through his own eyes, but a hostage to a certain delusion. He becomes a perjurer, all his thoughts and emotions being directed with reference, not to an accurate and just appraisal of the real world but rather to the safety and exaltation of his loved one, and the madness with which he pursues her, transmogrifying his attention, blinds him like a victim.”
—Alexander Theroux (b. 1940)
“There is always safety in valor.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)