Essential oil deterpenation by solvent extraction using 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium 2-(2-methoxyethoxy) ethylsulfate ionic liquid

Taking into account that heat application can have undesirable effects in essential oil properties, liquid extraction comes up as a promising process instead of distillation for citrus oil deterpenation. In this work the suitability of using the ionic liquid 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium 2-(2-methoxyethoxy) ethylsulfate as a solvent for the extraction of linalool from citrus essential oil (which has been simulated as a mixture of limonene and linalool) has been analyzed. Liquid–liquid equilibrium data at three different temperatures (298.15 K, 308.15 K and 318.15 K) have been reported and successfully correlated using NRTL model. The best results were achieved using α = 0.1 for the systems at 298.15 K and 308.15 K and α = 0.2 at 318.15 K. The solute distribution ratio has showed values close to one and high values of selectivity have been achieved.