The literature survey has shown that not much work has been reported on the interaction mechanism of ionic liquids (ILs) with sulfur in model oil system. In recently published work, the interaction was predicted using COSMO-RS where the strength of hydrogen bond of anion should be reduced in order to increase thiophene extraction capacity. On the other hand, the same researchers also found that the smaller sized cations would lead to higher selectivity, which could lower the capacity and vice versa. While others have reported that the absorption capacity of sulfur compounds in ILs are strongly dependent on the chemical structures, physical properties and compactness between the cation and the anion of the ILs. However, these conclusions lead to a broad selection of ILs for extractive desulphurization process.
Part of the book: Recent Advances in Ionic Liquids