Dye removal studies with ionic liquids 1-ethyl-3-methyl imidazolium lactate & 2-hydroxyethyl-trimethyl ammonium l+lactate

Textile industries are major source of water pollution, dyestuffs have proven to be problematic as these are most difficult to treat and recover the dye. These dye effluents are discharged in millions of gallons from different textile mills world over. These are known to affect the environment adversely reducing the dissolved oxygen thus affecting the aquatic life. Conventional treatment techniques involve physical, chemical and biological methodologies. These are not full-proof and thus new techniques are required to improve the efficiency of dye removal. Ionic liquids have been reported to be novel solvents for carrying out liquid –liquid extractions. The asymmetric cations with different combinations of anions can be explored for the removal of dye from the generated textile effluents. These could provide possible solutions to overcome this problem of textile industry.