An adiabatic tubular loop reactor with product recycle was used for the continuous synthesis of the ionic liquid (IL) 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium ethyl sulphate. Experiments and simulations show that this concept is a smart and efficient way of IL production. The loop reactor concept is not limited to IL syntheses and is applicable in general to any fast exothermic liquid phase reaction with the danger of a temperature runaway and/or with a temperature limit evoked by reactant/product decomposition or discoloration. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.