Capacity Enhancement of Ionic Liquids-Based Nanofluid for Fuels Desulfurization Purposes
Résumé
For the first time, nanoparticles enhanced ionic liquids (NEILs) were used to improve the capacity of ILs to extract sulfur compounds from aliphatic media. A study on six ternary systems containing {thiophene (1) + heptane (2) + NEILs} shows that NEILs composed of TiO2 or Fe2O3 nanoparticles and 1,3-dimethylimidazolium methylphosphonate, 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium thiocyanate, or 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium thiocyanate increase up to 2.5 the solute distribution ratio values compared to results obtained with pure ionic liquids. Yet, the selectivity values of NEILS are lower than those obtained with pure ILs, but their value remains important. The dynamic light scattering measurements show that nanoparticles of Fe2O3 and TiO2 aggregate in ILs, and the size of nanoaggregates depends on the nature of nanoparticles and of ionic liquid.