Ionic liquids can be utilized in petroleum science. However, significant attention
has been paid to the utilization of ionic liquids in petroleum science by researchers. In this
work, the recent development of the utilization of ionic liquids in petroleum science is introduced.
First of all, ionic liquids can be utilized as an additive in the oil & gas industry, such
as a surfactant, corrosion inhibitor, demulsifier, and dispersant. In addition, ionic liquids can
be utilized in the separation process of oil & gas processing. For example, ionic liquids can
be utilized to remove naphthenic acids from oils, extract toluene from alkanes, dissolution of
asphaltene in oils, extract phenol from model oil, and separate oil mixtures in a combination
of membranes. Ionic liquids can also be utilized in novel technology development for enhanced
oil recovery, and oil field scale control process. Moreover, utilization of ionic liquids in gasoline desulfurization
process is important and crucial, which is greener, lower cost, and safer compared with the traditional
processing technology. Furthermore, ionic liquids can be utilized as novel solvents to form micro-emulsion.
Some ionic liquids have task-specific functional groups, which can reduce the cost and improve the separation
efficiency. The utilization of ionic liquids in the catalysis process of the oil & gas industry is also introduced in
this work. In the end, the utilization of ionic liquids in the oil sand treatment process and asphaltene precipitation
inhibition process is discussed. This work will benefit the novel environmentally friendly technology development
using ionic liquids for oil & gas production and processing.