Halogen-free ionic liquids as high performance extractants for phenols separation

As precious chemical raw materials, phenols can be applied to produce pharmaceuticals, new materials, engineering products, and so on. The separation of phenols from oil mixtures shows great economic value. In this work, five halogen-free ionic liquids (HFILs) were designed and employed to separate phenols from simulated oils, and all of them showed excellent separation performance. Among the HFILs, 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate ([Emim][Ac]) showed the highest separation efficiency of 98.6% for phenol, and achieved a minimum ultimate content of 1.96 g dm^-3. The calculated distribution coefficient of phenol reached a high value of 431.8. The separation process could be finished within 3 min, and could be performed at normal temperature. It was also found that the HFILs could separate different types of phenols effectively. During separation, toluene was entrained in the HFIL, and an n-hexane treatment was used. After treatment, the toluene entrained in the HFIL after separation was largely removed, and the purity of the phenol was greatly improved. In addition, the HFILs could be easily regenerated by diethyl ether and reused 6 times without a decrease in separation efficiency. Meanwhile, the separation mechanism was explored by using FT-IR spectroscopy, and the FT-IR results indicated the existence of hydrogen bonds.