Faculty of Applied Sciences
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Item Application of selected ionic liquids for different separation problems : liquid-liquid equilibria and activity coefficients at infinite dilution(2021) Kabane, Bakusele; Redhi, G. G.This work focusses on the application and pre-screening of selected ILs for different industrial separation problems based on limiting activity coefficients at infinite dilution, and liquid-liquid equilibrium data at different temperatures. The selected ionic liquids for pre-screening based on activity coefficients at infinite dilution data include (1,3- dimethyimidazolium dimethylphosphate, trioctylmethylammonium chloride, trihexyltetradecylphosphonium dicyanamide, 2,3-dihydroxypropyl-N-methyl-2- oxopyrrolidinium chloride, 2,3-epoxypropyl methyl-2-oxopyrrolidinium chloride) and deep eutectic solvent (1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride + glycerol) at 1:2 molar ratio. These ionic liquids were tested in 33 solutes (alkanes, alkenes, alkynes, alcohols, tetrahydrofuran, ketones, aromatic hydrocarbons, thiophene, acetonitrile) and water at T = (313 – 343) K and at p = 101 kPa. The use of ionic liquid as a stationary phase on the column loading ranged between (30 – 36) % by mass. Thermodynamic functions at infinite dilution such as (Gibbs free energy, , entropy term, Tref and partial molar enthalpy, ) were also computed to further elucidate the types of intermolecular interactions existing between solutes and the investigated ionic liquids. The separation potential of the ionic liquids was determined from the selectivity ( ), and capacity ( ), values. Different ionic liquids (1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate, 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolim dicyanamide, 1,3-dimethylimidazolium dimethylphosphate) were also tested in the separation of azeotropic mixture (ethyl acetate/hexane) and in the desulfurization (thiophene/hexadecane or octane) process. The extraction process was conducted at varying temperatures, T = (308 and 298) K and at p = 101 kPa. The results were compared to previously published ionic liquids involving thermodynamic data found in the literature. The separation capacity was based on the calculated values of selectivities (S) and distribution ratio (β). The data was successfully correlated using the thermodynamic non-random two liquids (NRTL). From this study, it was found that the investigated ionic liquids showed some possible application for selected industrial separation problems.Item Use of 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium ethyl sulfate for liquid-liquid equilibria for ternary mixtures(2017) Mohale, Tshepang; Deenadayalu, NirmalaThis thesis forms part of the Durban University of Technology Thermodynamics Research Unit’s project which is aimed at developing a method for determination of the liquid-liquid equilibria (LLE) data for the azeotrope {methanol + water} with an ionic-liquid (IL) using DSA5000M to assess the efficiency of the ionic liquid to be used in liquid-liquid extractions for the recovery and recycling of methanol from petroleum refinery. The objective of this study was to determine the liquid-liquid equilibria data of the azeotrope {methanol + water} using 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium ethyl sulfate ionic liquid with the intention to recycle methanol from the Fischer-Tropsch (FT) process by- products in petroleum industries and to utilize it in gasoline additives in a new methanol to gasoline (MTG) petroleum process. LLE studies of systems containing alcohols and water are important due to the increasing demands of oxygenated compounds to produce lead free gasoline. Light alkanols such as methanol and ethanol are reported to be suitable compounds in order to produce lead free gasoline, but the use of methanol in gasoline blends can cause phase separation problems in: 1. dry conditions, these are due to its partial solubility in saturated hydrocarbons. 2. the presence of water from ambient humidity or in storage tanks, this depend on unfavourable distribution factor between aqueous and the hydrocarbon phase. To determine the possibility of separating methanol from water using ionic liquid, the liquid-liquid equilibria data was determined at room temperature, T = 298.15 K and atmospheric pressure to investigate whether it separate from water and/or a non-phase separation if it is used as an additive. The experimental data generated was compared to that of the literature for the system {methanol (1) +toluene (2) + dodecane (3)} and showed good agreement with the literature data with only maximum deviation of ± 0.0015 in the mole fraction using density calculations and ± 0.0092 in the mole fraction when using refractive index calculations The selectivities and distribution coefficients for this system were also calculated and the maximum deviation between the two methods (nD and ρ) was ± 1.33 in selectivities and found to be ±0.001 for distribution coefficients. The maximum deviation in distribution coefficients from literature when using nD calculations for system 1 was ±0.04 and ±0.01 for ρ. For the selectivity values the deviation from that of literature of nD when compared was found to be ± 1.28 and 0.29 for ρ respectively. The selectivity values from the density calculations were found to be in the range 2.82 – 7.66 for this system with the distribution coefficient values reported in the range 0.17 – 0.23. In the second system (system 2) the generated experimental data was also compared to that of the literature for the system {water (1) + methanol (2) + cyclohexane (3)} and in good agreement with literature values with only maximum deviation of ± 0.0091 in the weight fraction based on density calculations. The selectivities and distribution coefficients were also calculated and the maximum deviation between the literature and the experimental data was computed to be at ± 0.0003 for selectivity and ±0.09 in distribution coefficient. The selectivity values were found to be in a range 0.00 - 0.04 for this system and were constant throughout the phases but significantly less than one; with the distribution coefficient values in the range 0.00 – 0.008. For 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium ethyl sulfate system (Ionic liquid system) the selectivity values were not constant throughout the two-phase region and the values were found to be in the range 0.63 -0.99 still below one which indicates that the ionic liquid used in this study could not be considered as a potential solvent for the separation of the investigated azeotrope. The distribution coefficients for this system were determined and found to be in the range 0.23 – 0.74. The certainty and reliability of experimentally measured tie-line data was ascertained by applying Othmer-Tobias (OT) correlations and the Non-Random, Two Liquid (NRTL) parameters. The OT correlations for system 1 was linear and indicated the certainty of the five tie-lines prepared for this system. In system 2 the OT correlation was not linear and indicated extensively high errors as well as high systematic multiplicative and additive errors in calculations of mole fractions. For the IL system the OT correlation was linear throughout the whole tie-line range and indicated the adequate precision, which denotes that the investigation was carried out with minimal random and systematic errors and indicated the efficiency of the DSA 5000 M to generate the liquid-liquid equilibria data. All the ternary systems were well correlated and in good agreement with the estimated NRTL data. It was only system 1{methanol (1) + toluene (2) + dodecane (3)} that gave a high maximum deviation ( %RSMD) of 1.288 when using the RI measurements with the minimum error margin of 0.6320, this account as to why RI measurements were not applied in other systems (system 2 and ionic liquid system). Similarly for the same system; system 1{methanol (1) + toluene (2) + dodecane (3)} when using the density measurements; the NRTL model gave a maximum deviation of 0.5620 and minimum error margin of 0.2590. The NRTL obtained for system 2 {water (1) + methanol (2) + cyclohexane (3)} gave the maximum deviation of 0.5752 and minimum error margin of 0.0127. The NRTL for the ionic liquid ternary system {[EMIM][EtSO4](1) + methanol (2) + water (3)}showed a good agreement between the experimental data and the NRTL model tie- line data with the %RSMD of 1.0201 on the upper limit and 0.1620 as a lower deviation.Item Phase equilibrium studies of sulfolane mixtures containing carboxylic acids(2012-08-20) Sithole, Nompumelelo Pretty; Redhi, Gyanasivan GovindsamyIn this work, the thermodynamics of ternary liquid mixtures involving carboxylic acids with sulfolane, hydrocarbons including cycloalkane, and alcohols are presented. In South Africa, Sasol is one of the leading companies that produce synthesis gas from low grade coal. Carboxylic acids together with many other oxygenate and hydrocarbons are produced by Sasol using the Fischer-Tropsch process. Carboxylic acids class is one of the important classes of compounds with great number of industrial uses and applications. The efficient separation of carboxylic acids from hydrocarbons and alcohols from hydrocarbons is of economic importance in the chemical industry, and many solvents have been tried and tested to improve such recovery. This work focussed on the use of the polar solvent sulfolane in the effective separation by solvent extraction and not by more common energy intensive method of distillation. The first part of the experimental work focussed on ternary liquid-liquid equilibria of mixtures of [sulfolane (1) + carboxylic acid (2) + heptane (3) or cyclohexane or dodecane] at T = 303.15 K, [sulfolane (1) + alcohol (2) + heptane (3)] at T = 303.15 K. Carboxylic acid refers to acetic acid, propanoic acid, butanoic acid, 2- methylpropanoic acid, pentanoic acid and 3-methylbutanoic acid. Alcohol refers to methanol, ethanol, 1- propanol, 2-propanol, 1-butanol, 2-butanol, 2-methyl-1- propanol and 2-methyl-2-propanol. Ternary liquid- liquid equilibrium data are essential for the design and selection of solvents used from liquid- liquid extraction process. The separation of carboxylic acids from hydrocarbons and the alcohols from hydrocarbons is commercially lucrative consideration and is an important reason of this study. The separation of carboxylic acids or alcohols from hydrocarbons by extraction with sulfolane was found to be feasible as all selectivity values obtained are greater than 1. The modified Hlavatý, beta (β) and log equations were fitted to the experimental binodal data measured in this work. Hlavatý gave the best overall fit as compared to beta ( ) and log function. The NRTL (Non-Random, Two Liquid) and UNIQUAC Universal Quasichemical) model were used to correlate the experimental tie-lines and calculate the phase compositions of the ternary systems. The correlation work served three purposes: to summarise experimental data to test theories of liquid mixtures prediction of related thermodynamics properties. The final part of the study was devoted to the determination of the excess molar volumes of mixtures of [sulfolane (1) + alcohol (2)] at T = 298.15 K, T = 303.15 K and T = 309.15 K. Density was used to determine the excess molar volumes of the mixtures of [sulfolane (1) + alcohols (2)]. Alcohol refers to methanol, ethanol, 1- propanol, 2-propanol, 1-butanol, 2-butanol, 2-methyl-1-propanol, 2-methyl-2- propanol. The work was done to investigate the effect of temperature on excess molar volumes of binary mixtures of alcohols and sulfolane, as well as to get some idea of interactions involved between an alcohol and sulfolane. The excess molar volume data for each binary mixture was fitted in the Redlich–Kister equation to correlate the composition dependence of the excess property.Item Phase equilibrium studies of sulfolane mixtures containing carboxylic acids(2012) Sithole, Nompumelelo Pretty; Redhi, Gyanasivan GovindsamyIn this work, the thermodynamics of ternary liquid mixtures involving carboxylic acids with sulfolane, hydrocarbons including cycloalkane, and alcohols are presented. In South Africa, Sasol is one of the leading companies that produce synthesis gas from low grade coal. Carboxylic acids together with many other oxygenate and hydrocarbons are produced by Sasol using the Fischer-Tropsch process. Carboxylic acids class is one of the important classes of compounds with great number of industrial uses and applications. The efficient separation of carboxylic acids from hydrocarbons and alcohols from hydrocarbons is of economic importance in the chemical industry, and many solvents have been tried and tested to improve such recovery. This work focussed on the use of the polar solvent sulfolane in the effective separation by solvent extraction and not by more common energy intensive method of distillation. The first part of the experimental work focussed on ternary liquid-liquid equilibria of mixtures of [sulfolane (1) + carboxylic acid (2) + heptane (3) or cyclohexane or dodecane] at T = 303.15 K, [sulfolane (1) + alcohol (2) + heptane (3)] at T = 303.15 K. Carboxylic acid refers to acetic acid, propanoic acid, butanoic acid, 2-methylpropanoic acid, pentanoic acid and 3-methylbutanoic acid. Alcohol refers to methanol, ethanol, 1- propanol, 2-propanol, 1-butanol, 2-butanol, 2-methyl-1-propanol and 2-methyl-2-propanol. Ternary liquid- liquid equilibrium data are essential for the design and selection of solvents used from liquid- liquid extraction process. Abstract vi The separation of carboxylic acids from hydrocarbons and the alcohols from hydrocarbons is commercially lucrative consideration and is an important reason of this study. The separation of carboxylic acids or alcohols from hydrocarbons by extraction with sulfolane was found to be feasible as all selectivity values obtained are greater than 1. The modified Hlavatý, beta (β) and log equations were fitted to the experimental binodal data measured in this work. Hlavatý gave the best overall fit as compared to beta ( ) and log function. The NRTL (Non-Random, Two Liquid) and UNIQUAC Universal Quasichemical) model were used to correlate the experimental tie-lines and calculate the phase compositions of the ternary systems. The correlation work served three purposes: to summarise experimental data to test theories of liquid mixtures prediction of related thermodynamics properties. The final part of the study was devoted to the determination of the excess molar volumes of mixtures of [sulfolane (1) + alcohol (2)] at T = 298.15 K, T = 303.15 K and T = 309.15 K. Density was used to determine the excess molar volumes of the mixtures of [sulfolane (1) + alcohols (2)]. Alcohol refers to methanol, ethanol, 1- propanol, 2-propanol, 1-butanol, 2-butanol, 2-methyl-1-propanol, 2-methyl-2-propanol. The work was done to investigate the effect of temperature on excess molar volumes of binary mixtures of alcohols and sulfolane, as well as to get some idea of interactions involved between an alcohol and sulfolane. The excess molar volume data for each binary mixture was fitted in the Redlich–Kister equation to correlate the composition dependence of the excess property.Item Liquid-liquid equilibria related to the separation of organic acids(2012) Xhakaza, Nokukhanya Mavis; Redhi, Gyanasivan GovindsamyThe thesis involves a study of the thermodynamics of ternary liquid mixtures involving carboxylic acids with sulfolane, hydrocarbons and acetonitrile. Carboxylic acids are an important group of polar compounds with many industrial and commercial uses and applications. In South Africa, these carboxylic acids together with many other oxygenates and hydrocarbons are manufactured by SASOL using the Fischer–Tropsch process. The separation of these acids from hydrocarbons is a commercially viable option, and is an important reason for this study. This work focuses on the use of sulfolane in effecting separation by solvent extraction and not by the more common and energy intensive method of distillation. Sulfolane was chosen because of its high polarity and good solvent extraction properties. The first part of this study involves the determination of excess molar volumes (VmE) of binary mixtures of sulfolane (1) + carboxylic acids (2) at different temperatures of 303.15 K and 308.15 K, where carboxylic acids refer to acetic acid, propanoic acid, butanoic acid, 2-methylpropanoic acid, pentanoic acid and 3-methylbutanoic acid respectively. The densities of the binary systems of sulfolane (1) + carboxylic acids (2) were measured at T = 303.15 K and 308.15 K. The excess molar volumes were calculated from the experimental densities at each temperature. The VmE were negative for the entire mole fractions for all the binary systems. It was found that the VmE in the systems studied increase with an increase in temperature, and also VmE decreases with an increase in the carbon chain length of the carboxylic acid. The VmE data results were correlated using Redlich-Kister equation. The second part was the study of the binodal or solubility curves and tie line data for the ternary systems of [sulfolane (1) + carboxylic acids (2) + hydrocarbons (3)] and [acetonitrile (1) + carboxylic acids (2) + hydrocarbon (3)]. Hydrocarbons refer to pentane, hexane, dodecane and hexadecane. The binodal curve experimental data was determined by the cloud point technique. Liquid-liquid equilibrium (LLE) phase diagrams were constructed using the mole fractions and refractive indices (nD). Tie line data were obtained for the sulfolane-rich and hydrocarbon-rich phases as well as the acetonitrile-rich and hydrocarbon-rich phases respectively. The tie lines in both cases were skewed towards the hydrocarbon-rich phases indicating that relative mutual solubility of carboxylic acids is higher in the hydrocarbon-rich phase than in the solvent-rich phase. Selectivity values were calculated from the tie-lines to determine the extraction capabilities of solvents sulfolane and acetonitrile. Selectivity values in all cases were greater than one, meaning that both sulfolane and acetonitrile can be used to separate carboxylic acids from hydrocarbons. Binodal curve data were correlated by the Hlavatý, beta and log equations; average standard deviation error for Hlavatý was 0.012, for beta, 0.023 and for log, 0.021. The NRTL and UNIQUAC models were used to correlate the experimental tie-lines. The calculated values based on the NRTL equation were found to be better than those based on UNIQUAC equation; the average root-mean square deviation, (rmsd), between the phase composition obtained from experiment and that from calculation was 0.061 for the NRTL model, as compared to 0.358 for UNIQUAC model for the ternary systems involving sulfolane. For ternary systems of acetonitrile, the NRTL equation was better than the UNIQUAC with the rsmd of 0.003 and 0.287for UNIQUAC equation.