Eutectic solvents for the separation of aromatic and aliphatic compounds

During the cracking process, the aromatic compounds are not converted to olefins. In addition, small amounts of aromatic hydrocarbons are formed during the cracking process in the cracker furnaces. It is important to remove these low level aromatic hydrocarbons (10 25% wt) before further processing. This will improve products purity and reduce operational costs. The aim of this research is to investigate the use of novel ionic liquids analogues as non-conventional solvents for the liquid-liquid extraction of petroleum cuts to separate the aliphatic and aromatic constituents. This is achieved by utilizing the favorable properties of deep eutectic solvents (DESs) as powerful solvents. A group of ammonium and phosphonium based deep eutectic solvents will be synthesized and tested for their extraction capabilities for aromatic and aliphatic compounds. The phase equilibria of the synthesized DESs will be studied and fitted to proper thermodynamic models. The designed liquid-liquid extraction process will be optimized to achieve the best yield with least solvent and energy resources. The performance of the new process will be compared to conventional