Ammonium bio-ionic liquids based on camelina oil as potential novel agrochemicals

Valorization of camelina oil to biobased materials and biofuels for new industrial uses: a review

Global environmental pollution is a growing concern, especially the release of carbon dioxide from the use of petroleum derived materials which negatively impacts our environment's natural greenhouse gas level. Extensive efforts have been made to explore the conversion of renewable raw materials (vegetable oils) into bio-based products with similar or enhanced properties to those derived from petroleum. However, these edible plant oils, commonly used for human food consumption, are often not suitable raw materials for industrial applications. Hence, there is an increasing interest in exploring the use of non-edible plant oils for industrial applications. One such emerging oil seed crop is Camelina sativa, generally known as camelina, which has limited use as a food oil and so is currently being explored as a feedstock for various industrial applications in both Europe and North America. Camelina oil is highly unsaturated, making it an ideal potential AGH feedstock for the manufacture of lower carbon footprint, biobased products that reduce our dependency on petroleum resources and thus help to combat climate change. This review presents a brief description of camelina highlighting its composition and its production in comparison with traditional plant oils. The main focus is to summarize recent data on valorization of camelina oil by various chemical means, with specific emphasis on their industrial applications in biofuels, adhesives and coatings, biopolymers and bio-composites, alkyd resins, cosmetics, and agriculture. The review concludes with a discussion on current challenges and future opportunities of camelina oil valorization into various industrial products.

Development of advanced oil/water separation technologies to enhance the effectiveness of mechanical oil recovery operations at sea: Potential and challenges

Mechanical oil recovery (i.e., booming and skimming) is the most common tool for oil spill response. The recovered fluid generated from skimming processes may contain a considerable proportion of water (10 % ~ 70 %). As a result of regulatory prohibition on the discharge of contaminated waters at sea, vessels and/or storage barges must make frequent trips to shore for oil-water waste disposal. This practice can be time- consuming thus reduces the overall efficiency and capacity of oil recovery. One potential solution is on-site oil-water separation and disposal of water fraction at sea. However, currently available decanting processes may have limited oil/water separation capabilities, especially in the presence of oil-water emulsion, which is inevitable in mechanical oil recovery. The decanted water may not meet the discharge standards and cause severe ecotoxicological impacts. This paper therefore comprehensively reviews the principles and progress in oil/water separation, demulsification, and on-site treatment technologies, investigates their applicability on decanting at sea, and discusses the ecotoxicity of decanted water in the marine environment. The outputs provide the fundamental and practical knowledge on decanting and help enhance response effectiveness and consequently reducing the environmental impacts of oil spills.

Transformation of Iodosulfuron-Methyl into Ionic Liquids Enables Elimination of Additional Surfactants in Commercial Formulations of Sulfonylureas

Efficient use of herbicides for plant protection requires the application of auxiliary substances such as surfactants, stabilizers, wetting or anti-foaming agents, and absorption enhancers, which can be more problematic for environment than the herbicides themselves. We hypothesized that the combination of sulfonylurea (iodosulfuron-methyl) anion with inexpensive, commercially available quaternary tetraalkylammonium cations could lead to biologically active ionic liquids (ILs) that could become a convenient and environment-friendly alternative to adjuvants. A simple one-step synthesis allowed for synthesizing iodosulfuron-methyl based ILs with high yields ranging from 88 to 96% as confirmed by UV, FTIR, and NMR. The obtained ILs were found to possess several favorable properties compared to the currently used sodium salt iodosulfuron-methyl, such as adjustable hydrophobicity (octanol-water partition coefficient) and enhanced stability in aqueous solutions, which was supported by molecular calculations showing cation-anion interaction energies. In addition, soil mobility and volatility of ILs were more beneficial compared to the parental herbicide. Herbicidal activity tests toward oil-seed rape and cornflower revealed that ILs comprising at least one alkyl chain in the decyl to octadecyl range had similar or better efficacy compared to the commercial preparation without addition of any adjuvant. Furthermore, results of antimicrobial activity indicated that they were practically harmless or slightly toxic toward model soil microorganisms such as Pseudomonas putida and Bacillus cereus.

A Review on Ionic Liquids-Based Membranes for Middle and High Temperature Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cells (PEM FCs)

Today, the use of polymer electrolyte membranes (PEMs) possessing ionic liquids (ILs) in middle and high temperature polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (MT-PEMFCs and HT-PEMFCs) have been increased. ILs are the organic salts, and they are typically liquid at the temperature lower than 100 °C with high conductivity and thermal stability. The membranes containing ILs can conduct protons through the PEMs at elevated temperatures (more than 80 °C), unlike the Nafion-based membranes. A wide range of ILs have been identified, including chiral ILs, bio-ILs, basic ILs, energetic ILs, metallic ILs, and neutral ILs, that, from among them, functionalized ionic liquids (FILs) include a lot of ion exchange groups in their structure that improve and accelerate proton conduction through the polymeric membrane. In spite of positive features of using ILs, the leaching of ILs from the membranes during the operation of fuel cell is the main downside of these organic salts, which leads to reducing the performance of the membranes; however, there are some ways to diminish leaching from the membranes. The aim of this review is to provide an overview of these issues by evaluating key studies that have been undertaken in the last years in order to present objective and comprehensive updated information that presents the progress that has been made in this field. Significant information regarding the utilization of ILs in MT-PEMFCs and HT-PEMFCs, ILs structure, properties, and synthesis is given. Moreover, leaching of ILs as a challenging demerit and the possible methods to tackle this problem are approached in this paper. The present review will be of interest to chemists, electrochemists, environmentalists, and any other researchers working on sustainable energy production field.

Mechanical Harvesting of Camelina: Work Productivity, Costs and Seed Loss Evaluation

Camelina is a low input crop than can be cultivated in rotation with cereals to provide vegetable oil suitable for bioenergy production, industrial applications and even as source of food for livestock. At large scale farming, camelina seeds are currently harvested using a combine harvester, equipped with a cereal header, but the literature still lacks the knowledge of the performance of the machine, the harvesting cost and the related loss of seeds. The present study aims to fulfill that gap by reporting the results obtained from an ad hoc harvest field test. Camelina seed yield was 0.95 Mg ha−1 which accounted for the 18.60% of the total above ground biomass. Theoretical field capacity, effective field capacity and field efficiency were 3.38 ha h−1, 3.17 ha h−1 and 93.7% respectively, albeit the seed loss was 80.1 kg ha−1 FM (7.82% w/w of the potential seed yield). The presence of material other than grain was rather high, 31.77% w/w, which implies a second step of cleaning to avoid undesired modification of the seed quality. Harvesting cost was estimated in 65.97 € ha−1. Our findings provide evidence on the suitability to use a conventional combine harvester equipped with a cereal header for the harvesting of camelina seeds, although some improvements are required to reduce both seed loss and impurities.

Herbicidal Ionic Liquids: A Promising Future for Old Herbicides? Review on Synthesis, Toxicity, Biodegradation, and Efficacy Studies

The transformation of agrochemicals into herbicidal ionic liquids (HILs) has been suggested as a solution to problems associated with commercial forms of herbicides. The aim of this review was to summarize the latest progress in the field of HILs, including their synthesis as well as physicochemical and biological properties, and to address the areas that require further research in order to ensure their safe commercialization (e.g., data regarding biodegradability, toxicity, and environmental fate). The first part of the review provides an in-depth summary of the current state of knowledge regarding HILs, particularly the anions and cations used for their synthesis. The second part highlights the employed synthesis methods and elucidates their respective advantages and limitations. The third section is focused on the characterization of HILs with emphasis on the methods and factors that are significant in terms of their practical application. Subsequently, the issues associated with the biodegradation and toxic effects of HILs are discussed based on the relevant literature reports. All sections include comprehensively tabulated data in order to enable rapid comparison of utilized approaches. Finally, all the findings are critically analyzed in terms of crucial disadvantages (especially the lack of standardization), which allowed us to establish future recommendations and basic guidelines that are presented in the last section.

Ionic Liquids in Agrochemistry

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In this review article, we present the latest research in the field of ionic liquids containing biologically active anions and cations, their potential application in the field of agrochemistry and agriculture. The article describes examples of the use of ionic liquids as herbicides, fungicides, antimicrobial agents, deterrents and plant growth stimulants. It also indicates the advantages and disadvantages of using ionic liquids, such as their multitasking, toxicity, thermal stability and solubility in water in comparison with commercial chemicals. Readers will find in the article the prospects for the use of ionic liquids in agriculture, as well as the high value of using ILs as multifunctional biologically active substances.

Novel lipophilic analogues from 2,4-D and Propanil herbicides: Biological activity and kinetic studies

This work describes the synthesis of new lipophilic amides and esters analogues of classical organochlorides herbicides by incorporation of long-chains from fatty acids and derivatives. The new fatty esters and amides were synthesized in 96-99% and 80-89% yields, respectively. In general, all compounds tested showed superior in vitro activity than commercial herbicides against growth L. sativa and A. cepa, in ranges 86-100% of germinative inhibition. The target compounds showed, significantly more susceptible towards acid hydrolysis than 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D). The kinetic and NMR studies showed that the incorporation of lipophilic chains resulted in a decrease in half-life time of new herbicides compounds (1.5 h) than 2,4-D (3 h). These findings suggest the synthesis of new lipophilic herbicides as potential alternative to traditional formulations, by incorporation of long fatty alkyl chains in the molecular structure of 2,4-D, resulting in superior in vitro herbicidal activity, best degradation behavior and more hydrophobic derivatives.

Third-generation ionic liquids with N-alkylated 1,4-diazabicyclo[2.2.2]octane cations and pelargonate anions

Ionic liquids that belong to the third-generation designs due to their intended biological activity are compounds with high potential applications as plant-protection products. The present study describes the synthesis and characterization of novel ionic liquids with cations based on the alkyl derivatives of 1,4-diazabicyclo[2.2.2]octane (DABCO) and an anion derived from naturally occurring pelargonic acid. The developed synthesis method allowed obtaining products with a high yield (≥96%), and the liquids were characterized as high-viscosity liquids at room temperature. This allowed classifying the products as ionic liquids (ILs). The structures of the obtained ILs were confirmed on the basis of their NMR and IR spectra as well as by elemental analysis. All the products exhibited surface activity and were capable of partially wetting a hydrophobic surface. The tested ionic liquids exhibited higher herbicidal activity against winter oilseed rape (Brassica napus L.) and common lambsquarters (Chenopodium album L.) at a lower dose compared to a commercial preparation in greenhouse studies. The studied ionic liquids also exhibited different effects as antifeedants on various insect species. The best results were obtained against beetles belonging to the granary weevil species (Sitophilus granarius L.). The relation between the surface-tension-reduction efficiency pC₂₀ and biological activity was investigated. The herbicidal activity was also correlated with the value of the contact angles for the studied pelargonates. All the obtained results indicate that the designed and synthesized ionic liquids possess double biological functions: herbicidal activity and deterrent activity.

Phytotoxicity of ionic liquids

Ionic liquids (ILs) have been one of the most interesting chemical entities over the last two decades and have been investigated by numerous scientists all over the world. However, during IL research, it has been shown that these compounds present toxicity to both terrestrial and aquatic plants, among others. The phytotoxicity of ILs depends on the type of cation, the length of the alkyl chain in the substituent or enantioselectivity, on the concentration used, and, it appears that the type of anion may also have an impact on toxicity. The toxic effects of ILs on plants also depend on the conditions under which such tests are conducted. The results may help facilitate the development of protective environmental measures against IL-induced negative effects, but they may also be used in various landscape-related areas, such as herbology, to design new substances with weed killing properties.

Difunctional ammonium ionic liquids with bicyclic cations

The increasing limitations regarding the applied amounts of plant protection make hybrid ionic liquids an interesting class of compounds belonging to the III generation ILs.

Novel herbicide ionic liquids based on nicosulfuron with increased efficacy

Nicosulfuron is widely used in agriculture because of its high selectivity, wide weeding spectrum, and excellent herbicide performance.