Oxidation Coupled with Extraction to Remove Thiophene and Benzothiophene from Dodecane using [Mmlm)DMP Ionic Liquid.

High concentration release of sulfur from fuel to the environment can cause accumulation in the
ecological system, thus posing a significant danger to human health. The available technology of
for sulfur removal from fuel which is hydrodesulfurization (HDS) are rather expensive, require
severe operating condition, high hydrogen consumption, and limited to aliphatic sulfur species.
Therefore, vigorous studies are being conducted to develop more effective and cheaper
alternatives. One of the promising alternatives that attract high attention is using ionic liquid for
desulfurization due to its unique properties as a solvent and catalyst. This project is focused on
removing sulfur from crude oil model by using oxidation coupling with extraction method. The
ionic liquid use in this research work is methylmethylimidazolium
dimethylphospate,[Mmim]DMP. There are five main stages in this project which are preparation
of ionic liquid, characterization of ionic liquid properties, model oil preparation, desulfurization
and data analyzing. Two sulfur species were used: thiophene and benzothiophene. Three different
amount of sulfur in model oil were employed which are 2%, 4% and 6%. The desulfurization
process was conducted at ambient temperature. The percentages of sulfur removal were analyzed
using X-ray fluorescence (XRF). The results showed that percentage of sulfur removal always
followed the order of thiophene > benzothiophene. The significance of this finding is such that
although thiophene and benzothiophene cannot be removed efficiently by HDS process, they can
be easily extracted by ionic liquid. This is due to strong 11:-x interaction between unsaturated
bonds of those sulfur species and the imidazolium ring of ionic liquid.