Characterization of systems of thiophene and benzene with ionic liquids

The potential of ionic liquids for aromatic-aliphatic separation or removal of sulfur-containing compounds such as thiophene is well established but, in spite of a number of phase diagrams reported in the literature, the values of other properties required for process design, such as viscosities and densities, are poorly characterized for these mixtures. In this work, systems presenting a LLE with a LCST are studied. Experimental density and viscosity data for binary systems of benzene with [C4C1im][SCN], [C4C1im][CF3SO3] and [C2C1im][NTf2], and thiophene with [C4C1im][SCN] and [C4C1im][NTf2] are presented. Additionally, the liquid-liquid phase diagram for the binary system of thiophene with [C4C1im][NTf2] is also reported. The excess molar volumes and viscosity deviations were further estimated and correlated and their values discussed.