Ionic Liquid-Based Green Emulsion Liquid Membrane for the Extraction of the Poorly Soluble Drug Ibuprofen (original) (raw)

Ibuprofen (Ibf) is a biologically active drug (BADs) and an emerging contaminant of concern (CECs) in aqueous streams. Due to its adverse effects upon aquatic organisms and humans, the removal and recovery of Ibf are essential. Usually, conventional solvents are employed for the separation and recovery of ibuprofen. Due to environmental limitations, alternative green extracting agents need to be explored. Ionic liquids (ILs), emerging and greener alternatives, can also serve this purpose. It is essential to explore ILs that are effective for recovering ibuprofen, among millions of ILs. The conductor-like screening model for real solvents (COSMO-RS) is an efficient tool that can be used to screen ILs specifically for ibuprofen extraction. The main objective of this work was to identify the best IL for the extraction of ibuprofen. A total of 152 different cation–anion combinations consisting of eight aromatic and non-aromatic cations and nineteen anions were screened. The evaluation w...