Evaluation of Two Immidazoluim Dicyanamide Ionic Solvents for Extractive Desulfurization of Model Fuels

The aim of this study is to verify the suitability of 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium dicyanamide ionic liquid and 1-benzyl-3-methylimidazolium dicyanamide ionic liquids as potential alternative solvents to the separation often encountered in the petroleum industry of sulfur compounds from fuels. In this article, three ternary systems were examined to determine the ability of the proposed ionic liquid as a solvent to extract sulfur-containing organic compound from aliphatic hydrocarbons (n-dodecane representing kerosene and n-hexadecane representing diesel fuels). Therefore, liquid-liquid equilibria measurements for the three-system mixtures were measured at 313.15 K and atmospheric pressure: {n-dodecane or n-hexadecane + thiophene + 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium dicyanamide or 1-benzyl-3-methylimidazolium dicyanamide}. The desulfurization capacities of the ionic liquids were compared, and the desulfurization feasibility was determined using these selected solvent. The influence of the paraffin alkyl chain length was investigated. The experimental data of the study systems satisfied the thermodynamic NRTL model and an average rmsd of 0.2165 was obtained.