Abstract—Ionic liquids (ILs) were used to separate fructose and glucose from their mixtures at different temperatures. It was found that the solubility of glucose and fructose in ILs depends on the type of the anion, cation, and substituents on the cation; with the anion playing the most important role. Depending on the type of the anion, some ILs dissolve more of one sugar than the other. A separation process resulting in either precipitation or enriched solutions of either of the two sugars was proposed. More specifically, the process uses ILs, as selective solvents, and applies dissolution and filtration to separate the precipitated sugar. Separation of the sugars from the IL is then conducted by extraction with water in a centrifuge. The IL is then recycled. The recovery of sugars in all cases was higher than 90% and the purity of the separated sugar was 99%. The solubility of glucose in different ionic liquids is estimated using the NRTL activity coefficient model.
Index Terms—Ionic liquids, separation process, sugars.
The authors are with the Chemical Engineering Department, King Saud University, P.O. Box 800, 11421, Riyadh, KSA (e-mail: mhadjkali@ksu.edu.sa).
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Cite: Mohamed K. Hadj-Kali and Inas M. AlNashef, "Using Ionic Liquids for the Separation of Carbohydrates," International Journal of Chemical Engineering and Applications vol. 6, no. 6, pp. 417-421, 2015.
