Energy & Fuels, Vol.28, No.10, 6666-6676, 2014
Liquid-Liquid Extraction of BTEX from Reformer Gasoline Using Binary Mixtures of [4empy][Tf2N] and [emim][DCA] Ionic Liquids
Reformer gasoline is the main source for benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylenes (BTEX). Nowadays, the separation of BTEX is performed by liquidliquid extraction using organic solvents such as sulfolane. Ionic liquids (ILs) have been recently proposed as potential replacements of sulfolane in the separation of aromatics from alkanes, being the binary IL mixture formed by the 1-ethyl-4-methylpyridinium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide ([4empy][Tf2N]) and the 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium dicyanamide ([emim][DCA]) one of the most promising IL-based solvents. In this work, we have studied the liquidliquid extraction of BTEX from a reformer gasoline model using the {[4empy][Tf2N] + [emim][DCA]} IL mixture with a [4empy][Tf2N] mole fraction of 0.3 and sulfolane as solvents at temperatures between 303.2 and 323.2 K. The effects of temperature and solvent to feed ratio on the extractive properties have been studied to select the most appropriate conditions to extract BTEX using the IL mixture. From the experimental data, aromatic and aliphatic distribution ratios, aromatic/aliphatic selectivities, yields of extraction of aromatics and aliphatics, and relative purities of extracted aromatics have been calculated. The Kremser equation has also been used to simulate a countercurrent extraction column using both extraction solvents in the separation of BTEX from the reformer gasoline model.