Simulation Study of Ionic Liquid Utilization for Desulfurization of Model Gasoline

Abstract

With the increased amount of focus is being put towards reducing the emissions results from fossil fuel usually composed of hydrocarbons and impurities. The study aim at utilizing the ability of 1-octyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate [OMIM][BF4]. Ionic liquid as the suitable solvent for the extraction of the thiophene and its derivatives from the model gasoline. The process simulation was performed on the ASPEN plus(V8.8) with the help of UNIFAC as the thermodynamic model, previously NRTL was used as the method to calculate the interaction. The different parametric analysis was calculated for the removal of thiophene-based compounds from model gasoline. Outcomes acquired shows the significance of imidazolium-based ionic liquid(ILs) 1-octyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate towards the separation about S-contents from the liquid fuels at an optimum process condition of 30ᵒC and 2 bar pressure with the 1:1 ratio of ionic liquid and model gasoline which confirms the experimental outcomes obtained previously in the literature. By using these mild conditions, easy phase separation, high reusability, and various other process parameters have been established based on the process simulation model using ASPEN plus.

Keywords

• imidazolium based ionic liquid
• unifac
• gasoline
• desulfurization
• thiophene