المجلة الدولية للعلوم والتقنية

A Total of Four ionic liquids (ILs), based on methylimidazolium [MIM], Butyl-methylimidazolium [BMIM], and 1,3-Dimethylimidazolium [MMIM] as cations and tetrafluoroborate [BF4], Dimethyl phosphate [DMP], Chloride [Cl], and tetrachloroaluminate [AlCl4], as anions were prepared in the lab using a conventional method with modifications and investigated for extraction of benzene from cyclohexane. The Liquid-liquid equilibrium (LLE) data of the following four ternary systems of {cyclohexane + benzene + 1,3-dimethylimidazolium dimethylphosphate [MMIM][DMP] at 298.15 K, {cyclohexane + benzene + 1-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate [MIM][BF4] at 338.15 K, {cyclohexane + benzene + 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium Chloride [Bmim][Cl] at 325.15 K and {cyclohexane + benzene + 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrachloroaluminate [Bmim][AlCl4] at 298.15 K were measured at atmospheric pressure. The influence of cation and anion structure of ILs on the separation selectivity and capacity for cyclohexane/benzene mixtures was analyzed. The results indicate that most ILs investigated shows both higher extractive selectivity and capacity for the aromatic components for the systems studied herein, suggesting they can be used as promising extractants for the separation of aliphatic/aromatic mixtures. The LLE data were well correlated by the non-random two-liquid (NRTL) model of non-electrolyte solutions with overall ARD deviation being about 0.001 in term of the mole fraction based activity