Aspen Plus supported conceptual design of the aromatic–aliphatic separation from low aromatic content naphtha using 4-methyl-N-butylpyridinium tetrafluoroborate ionic liquid

Aspen Plus supported conceptual design of the aromatic–aliphatic separation from low aromatic content naphtha using 4-methyl-N-butylpyridinium tetrafluoroborate ionic liquid

Type	Journal Article
Author	J. de Riva
Author	V. R. Ferro
URL	http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378382016300388
Volume	146
Pages	29-38
Publication	Fuel Processing Technology
Date	June 1, 2016
Abstract	Researchers analyzed three distinct processes to separate aromatic hydrocarbons from a very low-aromatic-content naphtha with the 4-methyl-N-butylpyridinium tetrafluoroborate ionic liquid. They employed a computer-aid methodology, developed by their group, which integrates the molecular modeling and the process simulation via COSMO-based thermodynamic models in Aspen Plus. They submit that the most commonly drawn process scheme Base Case Configuration and two alternative configurations, one adding water as a co-solvent, and the other including a stripper between the extraction and the solvent regeneration. The process performance was evaluated through the aliphatic and aromatic product purities and recoveries and the solvent and energy consumptions. Results revealed that the separation of aromatic hydrocarbons from this type of naphtha using ionic liquids is possible. Results demonstrate that the computational strategy used is able to discriminate among complex and relatively similar process alternatives.