Assessment of certain ionic liquids for separation of binary mixtures based on gamma infinity data measurements

Abstract

The effect of interactions between organic solvents or water on the interfacial and bulk properties of 1-benzyl-3-methylimidazolium dicyanamide, [BzMIM][DCA] and 1-benzyl-3-methylimidazolium bis{(trifluoromethyl)sulfonyl}imide, [BzMIM][NTf₂] were determined via measurement of activity coefficients γ^∞₁₃ at infinite dilution for 64 solutes. The data were obtained using the gas–liquid chromatography technique. Measurements were undertaken at six temperatures, in 10 K intervals, in the range of 318.15 to 368.15 K. The solutes studied included both non-polar and polar compounds, such as alkanes, alkenes, and alkynes, as well as aromatic hydrocarbons, alcohols, water, ethers, ketones, acetonitrile, pyridine, 1-nitropropane, thiophene, and esters. Density, ρ, and viscosity η, measurements for a range of temperatures, T for the chosen ionic liquids (ILs), [BzMIM][DCA] and [BzMIM][NTf₂] were also undertaken at pressure, p = 101 kPa. The gas–liquid partition coefficients, K_L at infinite dilution, and the fundamental thermodynamic functions, partial molar excess Gibbs energy, enthalpy and entropy at infinite dilution were calculated from the experimental data measurements. The values of selectivity and capacity for three separation cases, viz. hexane/hex-1-ene, cyclohexane/cyclohexene, and ethylbenzene/styrene were calculated from γ^∞₁₃ values and compared to literature for imidazolium-based or dicyanamide-based, or bis{(trifluoromethyl)sulfonyl}imide-based ionic liquids (ILs). The results from the study indicate that [BzMIM][DCA] has large selectivity values for all three of the separation cases studied.