Integrated coalescing system for separating dispersed ionic liquid from liquid hydrocarbon

An integrated coalescing system for separating a dispersed ionic liquid from a liquid hydrocarbon, comprising:

• a. at least one bulk settler,
• that receives an emulsion comprising the dispersed ionic liquid with a wide range of droplet sizes ranging from small droplets less than 20 microns to large droplets greater than 500 microns, and
• that separates the emulsion into a clean ionic liquid phase, that is essentially free of the liquid hydrocarbon, and into a separated liquid hydrocarbon phase comprising retained ionic liquid droplets;
• b. at least one pre-coalescer connected to the at least one bulk settler that receives the separated liquid hydrocarbon phase, separates out solid particles from the separated liquid hydrocarbon phase, and begins to form coalesced droplets of the retained ionic liquid droplets;
• and
• c. at least one coalescer that is fluidly connected to the at least one pre-coalescer and receives an effluent from the at least one pre-coalescer, wherein the at least one coalescer comprises multiple layers of media having a fine pore size of 20 microns or less, and produces a clean hydrocarbon stream that is essentially free of the dispersed ionic liquid and additional amounts of the clean ionic liquid phase.