ASPEN plus simulation of liquid–liquid equilibria data for the extraction of aromatics from waste tyre pyrolysis gasoline using organic and deep eutectic solvents: a comparative study

Waste tyre pyrolysis gasoline (WTPG) contain significant amount of aromatics such as benzene, toluene and xylenes (BTX) and thus provide a good source for these value-added chemicals. Separation of aromatics from aliphatic media as obtained in WTPG and naphtha is done commercially by solvent extraction using volatile organic solvents such as sulfolane (SUF), dimethylformamide (DMF) and diethylene glycol (DEG). The high cost of this state-of-the art separation method and environmental consideration have necessitated search for non-volatile and green solvent such as deep eutectic solvent (DES). This study intends to conduct a comparative evaluation of the performance of five solvents (SUF, DMF, DEG, and two DESs) for the extraction of BTX from WTPG. The two DESs are choline chloride/ethylene glycol (DES1) and choline chloride/glycerol (DES2) in molar ratios 1:2. An ASPEN plus simulation was carried out to generate liquid–liquid equilibria (LLE) data for the pseudo-ternary systems {WTPG?+?BTX?+?solvent (SUF/DMF/DEG/DES)}. Performance evaluation was based on selectivity (S) and solute (BTX) distribution coefficient (D). The propriety of the simulation protocol was validated using literature data. The results revealed the following maximum values of selectivity and distribution coefficients for the solvents: DES2 (S?=?378.283, D?=?0.656); DES1 (S?=?77.364, D?=?1.423); SUF (S?=?55.371, D?=?0.756); DMF (S?=?25.336, D?=?0.786) and DEG (S?=?17.531, D?=?0.793). The DESs therefore performed better than the organic solvents and can suitably replace same in the extraction of BTX from waste tyre pyrolysis gasoline.