Solubilities of propane and cyclopropane in 1-hexyl-3-methylimidazolium tris(pentafluoroethyl)trifluorophosphate

•Solubilities of propane and cyclopropane in [HMIM][FEP] were measured.•[HMIM][FEP] has higher solubility for cyclopropane than propane.•A modified KK equation was used to correlate experimental data.

Absorption refrigeration is an important energy saving technology that can utilize low-grade energy. A hydrocarbon and an ionic liquid are a promising working pair for the absorption refrigeration system. In this work, the solubilities of propane and cyclopropane in 1-hexyl-3-methylimidazolium tris(pentafluoroethyl)trifluorophosphate at temperatures from 302 K to 344 K and at pressures up to 0.9 MPa were measured. The experimental results were correlated successfully with a modified Krichevsky–Kasarnovsky equation. The mean absolute relative deviations and the maximum absolute relative deviations of the modified Krichevsky–Kasarnovsky equation from the experimental results are less than 1.4 % and 3.7 %, respectively.