Sulfonate based zwitterions: A new class of extractants for separating phenols from oils with high efficiency via forming deep eutectic solvents

To develop a greener method to separate phenols from oils, four kinds of halogen-free zwitterions, including 1-(propyl-3-sulfonate)-triethylaminium (TEA-PS), 1-(propyl-3-sulfonate)-tripropylaminium (TPA-PS), 1-(butyl-4-sulfonate)-triethylaminium (TEA-BS) and 1-(butyl-4-sulfonate)-tripropylaminium (TPA-BS), were designed and synthesized to separate phenols from model oils via forming deep eutectic solvents (DESs) based on the formation of hydrogen bonding between OH group on phenol and the oxygen atom on SO3− group of the zwitterions. The effects of time, temperature, dosage of zwitterions, initial phenol content, and structure of zwitterions were investigated. The results show that the extraction process can reach equilibrium within 2 min and the extraction efficiency is not sensitive to temperature. The zwitterions separate well phenol from model oils at room temperature, and the minimum phenol contents follow the order: TEA-PS > TPA-PS > TEA-BS > TPA-BS. The minimum phenol content and the maximum extraction efficiency at 25 °C can reach 4.8 g dm−3 and 98.6%, respectively, by using TPA-BS. All the maximum extraction efficiency can be obtained with nzwitterions:nphenol of less than 0.4, which greatly reduces the dosages of extractants. Importantly, these zwitterions can avoid the introduction of halide ion, which can seriously corrode the process equipment. All these zwitterions can be easily regenerated by an anti-solvent method without an obvious mass loss and a decrease in phenol extraction efficiency. Lastly, the extraction mechanism was studied with FT-IR and the freezing points of DESs indicate that the DESs are formed through hydrogen bonding.