abstract
Relevant chemical separations for the petrochemical and chemical industries include the removal of aromatic hydro-carbons from aliphatics, the desulfurization and denitrification of fuels, and the separation of azeotropic mixtures containing alkanols. In an attempt to contribute to the development of novel technologies, the potentialities of imidazolium chloride ionic liquid (IL) mixtures as separation agents were investigated. Selectivities, capacities, and solvent performance indices were calculated through the activity coefficients at infinite dilution of organic solutes and water in the imidazolium chloride IL: [C(8)mim]Cl, [C(12)mim]Cl, and the equimolar mixture of [C(4)mim]Cl and [C(12)mim]Cl. Results show that the imidazolium chloride IL might be appropriately tailored for specific purposes, in which an increase in the proportion of cations containing larger alkyl chains tends to increase the overall affinity with organic solutes. The IL designer solvent concept was explored by comparing the IL equimolar mixture results with the intermediary [C(8)mim]Cl. The COSMO-RS thermodynamic model was also applied, showing it to be a promising tool for a fast qualitative screening of potential separation agents for specific separation processes.
keywords
DILUTION ACTIVITY-COEFFICIENTS; ETHANOL-WATER SYSTEM; INFINITE DILUTION; COSMO-RS; ORGANIC SOLUTES; EXTRACTIVE DISTILLATION; N-FORMYLMORPHOLINE; MOLECULAR SOLUTES; SCREENING MODEL; SULFUR REMOVAL
subject category
Energy & Fuels; Engineering
authors
Vilas-Boas, SM; Martins, MAR; Tentor, FR; Teixeira, G; Sgorlon, JG; Coutinho, JAP; Ferreira, O; Pinho, SP
our authors
Gabriel Teixeira Santos
PhD Student
Simão Pedro de Almeida Pinho
CollaboratorProjects
CICECO - Aveiro Institute of Materials (UIDB/50011/2020)
CICECO - Aveiro Institute of Materials (UIDP/50011/2020)
Associated Laboratory CICECO-Aveiro Institute of Materials (LA/P/0006/2020)
acknowledgements
This work research was developed within the scope of the project CICECO-Aveiro Institute of Materials, UIDB/50011/2020, UIDP/50011/2020, and LA/P/0006/2020, and project CIMO-Mountain Research Center, UIDB/00690/2020 and LA/P/0007/2020, financed by national funds through the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology/MCTES. S.M.V.-B. also thanks FCT and European Social Fund (ESF) for his PhD grant (SFRH/BD/138149/2018).