Ionic Liquids: - The Novel Solvent for Removal of Dibenzothiophene from Liquid Fuel

Ionic Liquids (ILs), a new class of green solvents, have recently been undergoing intensive research on the removal of thiophenic sulfur species (e.g., dibenzothiophene) from liquid fuels because of the limitations of the tradition hydrodesulfurization process in removing these species. In this work, deep extractive desulfurization of liquid fuels by different ionic liquids are studied and employed as promising extractants for the model liquid fuel containing dibenzothiophene (DBT). 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride [Bmim] Cl was the most promising and novel ionic liquid and performed the best among the studied ionic liquids under the same operating conditions. It can remove dibenzothiophene from the liquid fuel in the single stage extraction process with the maximum desulfurization efficiency 77.15% under mild reaction conditions. It was also found that [Bmim] Cl can be reused without regeneration with considerable extraction efficiency.