Using aqueous solutions of ionic liquids as chlorophyll eluents in solid-phase extraction processes

•Solid-phase extraction was the technique used to purify pigments.•The pigments investigated were obtained from a microalga.•A commercial resin was applied of the separation of chlorophylls from other pigments.•Ionic liquids were successfully used to elute chlorophylls from the resin.•The continuous process in a column was also performed with success. There is a need for handy and fast techniques to purify biomolecules, increasing their stability and value, because the separation units are current bottlenecks in downstream processes. Solid-phase extraction is a technique that enables the purification of a compound by its adsorption from a liquid matrix. The AmberLite™ HPR900 OH resin allows the separation of chlorophylls from complex extracts, however the recovery of the chlorophylls is not easy to achieve. An innovative procedure to elute the chlorophyll from AmberLite™ HPR900 OH, based on the use of aqueous solutions of surface-active ionic liquids is proposed in this work. The operational conditions were optimized, showing that the resin can be reused for at least five cycles without losing its efficiency and the chemical structures of the pigments recovered were identified.