Electrochemical oxidation of sulfur compounds in naphtha using ionic liquids

Abstract

The instant invention is directed to an electrochemical process for removing sulfur from a stream comprising hydrocarbon and polymerizable sulfur compounds comprising: (a) combining a hydrocarbon feed containing polymerizable sulfur compounds with a ionic liquid; (b) electrochemically oxidizing said combination of step (a) in an electrochemical reactor, under conditions capable of producing sulfur oligomers from said polymerizable sulfur compounds to obtain a first fraction comprising sulfur oligomers, ionic liquid, and entrained hydrocarbon, and a second fraction comprising desulfurized hydrocarbon feed; (c) recovering said first fraction and said second fraction.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.