Journal of Chemical and Engineering Data, Vol.60, No.6, 1634-1641, 2015
Selective Separation of Aromatics from Paraffins and Cycloalkanes Using Morpholinium-Based Ionic Liquid
Morpholinium-based ionic liquids (MILs) have attracted increasing interest because of their good extraction performance and low toxicity. In this study, two MILs, N-benzyl-N-methylmorpholinium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide (MIL-a) and N-allyl-N-methylmorpholinium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide (MIL-b), were synthesized. Six ternary systems, tolueneheptaneIL (MIL-a or MIL-b), benzenehexaneMIL (IL-a or MIL-b) and benzenecyclohexaneIL (IL-a or MIL-b), were studied in terms of both quantum chemical calculation and liquidliquid extraction. The calculation results showed that both MILs had stronger interaction with aromatics than with alkanes. For both cations of MILs, stronger binding energy was obtained with toluene than with benzene. The difference between MIL-a-toluene and MIL-a-cyclohexane was larger than that of MIL-b. As a result, MIL-a showed higher selectivity on toluene than MIL-b. In other ternary systems, the interaction difference was larger than that between MIL-a-benzene and MIL-a-alkanes, which led to a better selectivity of benzene on MIL-b. The liquidliquid extraction experiment was conducted at 298.2 K and atmospheric pressure. The distribution coefficients of aromatic compounds (benzene and toluene) were over 0.60 when MIL-a was used as extractant, and above 0.50 when MIL-b was used. The selectivity was more than 80, and the distribution coefficient of toluene was over 1.4, when MIL-b was used in the ternary system with benzene and hexane. Both MILs could be reused without significant loss of selectivity and distribution coefficients.