Study of Sulphur Equilibrium in Model Oil with Ionic Liquid

Sulphur removal is one of the most important aspects in petroleum refineries. This is mainly due to several factors. These factors include environmental issues and compliance to government regulations. The objective of this project is to study the sulphur species equilibrium in model oil with ionic liquid by constructing a ternary phase diagram. In addition, the project‟s objective is to study the feasibility of ionic liquid used as a potential solvent for sulphur removal in crude oil via liquid-liquid extraction.
Currently, hydrodesulphurization (HDS) is the most common process of desulphurization in refineries. Researchers are currently finding an alternative to HDS due to its considerable amount of drawbacks. Ionic liquid is seen as a potential candidate and have gained much interest for the past decade. Liquid-liquid extraction is an inexpensive yet effective approach to separate materials. However, before any design work can be carried out, the equilibrium data must be obtained to ensure the ionic liquid is capable in extracting the sulphur species. Thus, this is where this project plays a part.
In this project, crude oil is represented by model oil, which is a hydrocarbon compound. Model oil selected for this project is n-dodecane. As for the sulphur species, it will be represented by n-butyl sulphide. Ionic liquid choosen for this research work is 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium (BMIM) Octylsulphate.