TY - JOUR
T1 - Simultaneous dearomatization, desulfurization, and denitrogenation of diesel fuels using acidic deep eutectic solvents as extractive agents
T2 - A parametric study
AU - Lemaoui, Tarek
AU - Benguerba, Yacine
AU - Darwish, Ahmad
AU - Hatab, Farah Abu
AU - Warrag, Samah E.E.
AU - Kroon, Maaike C.
AU - Alnashef, Inas M.
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was funded by Khalifa University of Science and Technology, UAE (under award numbers CIRA-2018-069 and CIRA-2018-023), and by Université Ferhat ABBAS, Algeria (under Laboratoire des Matériaux Polymères Multiphasiques).
Funding Information:
The authors would like to express their gratitude and acknowledge the support of the Research and Innovation on CO2 and H2 (RICH) Center and the Center for Membrane and Advanced Water Technology (CMAT) at Khalifa University of Science and Technology. We also would like to thank the continuous help of our colleagues Botagoz Zhuman, Ghaiath Almustafa, and Ali Alnajjar from Khalifa University of Science and Technology. We would also like to express our gratitutde to Shady A. Amin, Matthew J O'Connor, and the Core Technology Platforms resources in New York University Abu Dhabi for their assistance in conducting the 1H-NMR experiments. This work was funded by Khalifa University of Science and Technology, UAE (under award numbers CIRA-2018-069 and CIRA-2018-023), and by Université Ferhat ABBAS, Algeria (under Laboratoire des Matériaux Polymères Multiphasiques).
Funding Information:
The authors would like to express their gratitude and acknowledge the support of the Research and Innovation on CO 2 and H 2 (RICH) Center and the Center for Membrane and Advanced Water Technology (CMAT) at Khalifa University of Science and Technology. We also would like to thank the continuous help of our colleagues Botagoz Zhuman, Ghaiath Almustafa, and Ali Alnajjar from Khalifa University of Science and Technology. We would also like to express our gratitutde to Shady A. Amin, Matthew J O'Connor, and the Core Technology Platforms resources in New York University Abu Dhabi for their assistance in conducting the 1 H-NMR experiments.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2021/2/1
Y1 - 2021/2/1
N2 - Based on the literature, deep eutectic solvents (DESs) have been proven to be promising candidates for the separation of aromatics or heteroaromatics (“sulfur-/nitrogen- containing aromatics”) from fuels. However, most studies investigated the separation of a single fuel impurity (aromatics or heteroaromatics) from n-alkanes. Thus, to realistically represent a process that simulates the treatment of both types of aromatics, this work investigated the application of DESs in simultaneous dearomatization, desulfurization, and denitrogenation of fuels, particularly “diesel” using an arbitrary fuel model consisting of {5 wt% toluene + 5 wt% thiophene + 5 wt% pyridine + 5 wt% pyrrole + 80 wt% n-decane}. The selected DES was comprised of tetrapropylammonium bromide and acetic acid at a 1:4 M ratio. The DES performance was evaluated based on single-stage liquid–liquid extraction, the Liquid-Liquid Equilibrium (LLE) data of each impurity, multi-stage, and multi-cycle extraction of the diesel model. Furthermore, the influence of initial concentration and mixing effects of impurities were also studied. The results showed that complete removal of pyrrole and pyridine (“≈100%”) can be achieved in 2 stages only, while extraction efficiencies of 68% and 89% for toluene and thiophene, respectively, were achieved after the 5th stage. Based on the obtained results, it was concluded that acidic DESs could be considered as potential solvents for the simultaneous dearomatization, desulfurization, and denitrogenation of diesel fuels.
AB - Based on the literature, deep eutectic solvents (DESs) have been proven to be promising candidates for the separation of aromatics or heteroaromatics (“sulfur-/nitrogen- containing aromatics”) from fuels. However, most studies investigated the separation of a single fuel impurity (aromatics or heteroaromatics) from n-alkanes. Thus, to realistically represent a process that simulates the treatment of both types of aromatics, this work investigated the application of DESs in simultaneous dearomatization, desulfurization, and denitrogenation of fuels, particularly “diesel” using an arbitrary fuel model consisting of {5 wt% toluene + 5 wt% thiophene + 5 wt% pyridine + 5 wt% pyrrole + 80 wt% n-decane}. The selected DES was comprised of tetrapropylammonium bromide and acetic acid at a 1:4 M ratio. The DES performance was evaluated based on single-stage liquid–liquid extraction, the Liquid-Liquid Equilibrium (LLE) data of each impurity, multi-stage, and multi-cycle extraction of the diesel model. Furthermore, the influence of initial concentration and mixing effects of impurities were also studied. The results showed that complete removal of pyrrole and pyridine (“≈100%”) can be achieved in 2 stages only, while extraction efficiencies of 68% and 89% for toluene and thiophene, respectively, were achieved after the 5th stage. Based on the obtained results, it was concluded that acidic DESs could be considered as potential solvents for the simultaneous dearomatization, desulfurization, and denitrogenation of diesel fuels.
KW - Dearomatization
KW - Deep eutectic solvents
KW - Denitrogenation
KW - Desulfurization
KW - Liquid-liquid equilibrium
KW - Liquid-liquid extraction
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85092708639
U2 - 10.1016/j.seppur.2020.117861
DO - 10.1016/j.seppur.2020.117861
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85092708639
SN - 1383-5866
VL - 256
JO - Separation and Purification Technology
JF - Separation and Purification Technology
M1 - 117861
ER -