Thermodynamics Research Center / ThermoML | Journal of Chemical and Engineering Data

ABSTRACT

A study of liquid-liquid extraction of alkylbenzenes (propylbenzene, butylbenzene or p- xylene) from n-heptane using ionic solvent binary mixture of 1-octyl-3- methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate [C2C1im][PF6] and 1-ethyl-3- methylimidazolium methylsulfate [C8C1im][CH3SO4] is conducted at 313.2 K and a pressure of 101.3 kPa. The distribution ratio and selectivity for systems under study were calculated and compared to systems including other solvents such as sulfolane and other ionic liquids. The use of the present binary mixture of ILs provided a higher mole-based distribution ratio than sulfolane, a pure IL and a mixture of other ILs. On the other hand, the use of [C2C1im][PF6] and [C8C1im][CH3SO4] mixture contributed to a comparable mass-based distribution ratio to that of sulfolane, a higher distribution ratio than the others involving ILs and led to a higher selectivity than all the other solvents including sulfolane. Hence the extractive properties of [C2C1im][PF6] and [C8C1im][CH3SO4] mixture revealed a potential substitute of other solvents. Furthermore, the nonrandom two-liquid (NRTL) model was utilized to assess the data.