N,N-dialkylimidazolium dialkylphosphate ionic liquids: Their extractive performance for thiophene series compounds from fuel oils versus the length of alkyl group

N-butylimidazole-derived dialkylphosphate ionic liquids (ILs) are demonstrated to be effective for extractive removal of aromatic sulfur compounds (S-compounds) from fuel oils, and show strong preferential extraction for aromatic S-compound versus toluene. Sulfur partition coefficients (KN) between IL and fuel oil at 298.15 K are determined experimentally over a wide range of sulfur content. The results show that the sulfur removal selectivity for a specific IL is dependent on the molecular structure of the S-compounds and follows the order dibenzothiophene > benzothiophene > thiophene > 3-methylthiophene, and the efficiency of the ILs for removal of aromatic S-compounds is dependent on the size and structure of both cations and anions of the ILs. For the dialkylphosphate ILs studied with the same anion, the longer the alkyl substitute to the imidazolium ring is the higher the KN value for that IL, and a similar trend is found for the ILs with same cation.