Extraction and recovery of azo dyes into an ionic liquid

The azo dyes are commonly used in the leather and textile industries as they are quite versatile in nature. However, they are neither totally utilised during the process, nor are they recovered at the end of the process. In fact, in the leather industry, typically about 10-15% of the dye is discharged with the effluent creating both environmental and economic issues. Hence, there is a need to remove the residual dye from the large volume of aqueous effluent. In this study, for the first time, azo dyes employed in the leather industry have been successfully extracted into a neutral ionic liquid, with an extraction efficiency of 98%, potentially providing a method of minimizing pollution of waste-waters. The extraction of the dye into the ionic liquid also provides a potential analytical approach to determination of these dyes.