RT Journal Article
T1 Enhanced separation of benzene and cyclohexane by homogeneous extractive distillation using ionic liquids as entrainers
A1 Ayuso Sebastián, Miguel Aythami
A1 Cañada Barcala, Andrés
A1 Delgado Mellado, Noemí
A1 García González, Julián
A1 Rodríguez Somolinos, Francisco
A1 Larriba Martínez, Marcos
A1 Navarro, Pablo
AB The worldwide production of cyclohexane is mainly carried out through the hydrogenation of benzene. Unreacted benzene is separated from produced cyclohexane, being one of the most challenging processes in the petrochemical industry due to their extremely close boiling points and the presence of an azeotrope. In this work, an experimental screening of seven ionic liquids has been done in order to check the suitability of the extractive distillation with ionic liquids. The vapor-liquid or vapor-liquid-liquid equilibria (VLE/VLLE) of {cyclohexane/ benzene + ionic liquid} binary systems and {cyclohexane + benzene + ionic liquid} ternary systems have been determined by Headspace-Gas Chromatography technique. The Non-Random Two Liquids (NRTL) thermodynamic model has been used to fit the experimental VLE/VLLE accurately. Although all the selected ionic liquids enhanced the cyclohexane/benzene relative volatility (α1,2) in comparison with conventional solvents, the [4bmpy][TCM] was chosen and implemented in Aspen Plus to simulate the extractive distillation process of benzene from cyclohexane with ionic liquids. The associated operating costs and the energy savings in comparison with conventional process, using N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) as solvent, show that the extractive distillation with the [4bmpy][TCM] ionic liquid improves the conventional process, standing as an enhancer technology in the field.
PB Elsevier
SN 1383-5866
YR 2020
FD 2020-06
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/130769
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/130769
LA eng
NO Miguel Ayuso, Andrés Cañada-Barcala, Marcos Larriba, Pablo Navarro, Noemí Delgado-Mellado, Julián García, Francisco Rodríguez, Enhanced separation of benzene and cyclohexane by homogeneous extractive distillation using ionic liquids as entrainers, Separation and Purification Technology, Volume 240, 2020,116583, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.seppur.2020.116583.
NO Received 18 October 2019; Received in revised form 8 January 2020; Accepted 16 January 2020;Available online 17 January 2020
NO Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades
NO Comunidad de Madrid
DS Docta Complutense
RD 17 mar 2026