Preface

Ionic liquids (ILs) are ionic organic compounds, which unlike inorganic ionic compounds (salts), present, in general, very low melting points (below 100°C by and large) and in other cases, they are liquid at ambient temperature with negligible vapor pressure (non-volatile like common organic solvents), slight corrosive nature, low flammability and high chemical stability. These and other properties have positioned such compounds as “environmentally friendly” and drawn the researchers’ attention, exploring a number of applications in different chemistry fields like that of the oil industry.

In the present compendium, some of the works published by the Mexican Petroleum Institute (In Spanish: Instituto Mexicano del Petróleo, IMP) are reviewed. The IMP is a public institution that has been devoted to carry out research projects aimed at providing solutions to the Mexican Oil Industry since 1965, the year when it was founded, and the synthesis and field application of ILs for dealing with the technical challenges faced by such national industry represent some of the current works developed at this research center. General aspects and recent bibliography of different topics are reviewed; in addition, IMP contributions by means of scientific papers and granted patents on ILs synthesized and used to solve technological problems found in the Mexican oil reservoirs are discussed. In this context, the removal of solid, liquid, and gaseous pollutants and the breaking of emulsions that are formed naturally between crude oil and water, which increases the oil viscosity and makes the transport of heavy and extra heavy crude oil difficult, are drawbacks that can be attacked by employing chemical compounds to control water in mature fields. ILs can be used to inhibit corrosion (corrosion inhibitors, CIs), as inhibitors of the formation of methane hydrates in deepwater wells, and as catalysts to obtain alkylate gasoline by the reaction between isobutane and butene.

This book is addressed to passionate organic chemistry researchers interested in the wide universe of ILs and more specifically to experts in research works focused on the synthesis and use of chemical compounds to support and help the Oil Industry be safer and more sustainable.