Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 199 (2021) 108232

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Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering

journal homepage: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/petrol

Ionic liquid promoted extraction of bitumen from oil sand: A review

Vedant A. Joshi, Debashis Kundu *
Department of Chemical Engineering, Institute of Chemical Technology Marathwada Campus, Jalna, Maharashtra, 431203, India

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: As the crude oil reserve is decreasing day by day, alternative source of fossil fuel has been uncovered in the form
Oil sand of bitumen. Bitumen is found mixed with clay or sand to form oil sand. With trillions of barrel proven reserve
Bitumen worldwide, sustainable and economic extraction of bitumen is a technological challenge. Over the years, non-
Ionic liquid
aqueous extraction technique has been developed as the alternative of conventional aqueous extraction pro­
Non-aqueous extraction
cess. Ionic liquid (IL) promoted bitumen extraction is one of the non-aqueous extraction techniques that is
gaining attention from scientific community from last decade and the success has been achieved up to the pilot
plant scale study. Herein, we have discussed the recent research findings and technological advancement of IL
assisted bitumen extraction from oil sand. The review highlights the experimental and computational
advancement in this field. The selection criteria and role of IL in the bitumen extraction is rigorously reviewed.
Therefore, based on current research trend this review also highlights the future development pathways of this
state-of-the-art technology.

1. Introduction
Oil Sand is a form of unconventional petroleum and is also known as
crude bitumen or tar sand. Oil sand is the complex mixture of water,
sand, clay and bitumen and is mostly found in Alberta province of
Canada, Utah province in USA, Indonesia and Venezuela. The deposits of
oil sand are often segregated as oil wetted (e.g. oil sand deposits in USA)
and water wetted (e.g. oil sand deposits in Canada). Increase in demand
of oil has led to the establishment of oil sand industries. Oil sand in­
dustry in various regions is growing due to the ongoing research and
development, favourable taxes, fluctuating price of crude and royalty
treatment (Humphries, 2008). However, the increase in production of
oil sand and its processing has led to the expansion of refineries and
pipelines. The extraction process of bitumen from oil sand significantly
differs from the extraction of crude oil and the technology is largely
dependent on the depth of deposit (Butler et al., 1981). In Alberta alone,
2.5 trillion barrel of proven oil reserve has been estimated which is
equivalent to 900 billion barrels of crude oil and that has a potential to
extract 250 billion barrels of marketable ‘Synthetic crude oil’ (Berkowitz
and Speight, 1975; Masliyah et al., 2004).
There are two main processes, namely surface mining and in situ
methods to recover oil sand. Surface mining technique is used with the
deposit of oil sand on 0–200 ft depth of earth surface. This is only 20% of
the proven reserve. The remaining 80% can be recovered in situ
methods. Depending on the bitumen content, the oil sand is varied into
low grade (6–8 wt%), medium grade (8–10%) and high grade (10–15%)
oil sand (Abdelfatah et al., 2018). For past half a century, commercial
bitumen is mostly extracted by Clark Hot Water Extraction (CHWE)
process (Wu and Dabros, 2012). In CHWE process hot water is added to
the surface mined oil sand and is exported to the extraction plant.
Therefore, the bitumen is extracted from the flotation in hot water slurry
(Kasperski, 2001). High consumption of water, large tailing ponds, high
greenhouse gas emission, and high energy consumption put this tech­
nology in serious challenge. Further, during the treatment of froth, the
quality of bitumen is low if naphthenic froth treatment is used whereas,
high asphaltene rejection is observed for the paraffinic froth treatment
(Wu and Dabros, 2012). However, for a water-wetted oil sand, the
CHWE process can extract more than 90% bitumen from high grade
ores. However, the extraction yields poor recoveries for the oil wetted
ore. Additionally, the recovery significantly reduces for the extraction
from low and medium grade oil sand. There are two main categories,
namely, thermal recovery and non-thermal recovery (Guo et al., 2016)
in the class of in situ exploration of oil sand. Thermal recovery method is
further classified into two methods, namely; steam-assisted gravity
drainage (SAGD) and cyclic steam simulation (CSS). However, both the
processes use considerable amount of steam which is mainly supplied by
burning of fossil fuel and creates lot of greenhouse gas. Therefore,
considering the environmental aspects and economic point of view, a

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: d.kundu@marj.ictmumbai.edu.in (D. Kundu).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.petrol.2020.108232
Received 7 July 2020; Received in revised form 19 November 2020; Accepted 2 December 2020
Available online 15 December 2020
0920-4105/© 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
V.A. Joshi and D. Kundu Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 199 (2021) 108232

However, IL and sand mixture are separated out by washing with water.
Later the water is evaporated to recover IL. IL electrostatically interacts
with the oil sand and detaches bitumen from it thus enabling their re­
covery. Further the interaction with IL changes the wettability of
bitumen and easier separation is achieved. The IL assisted extraction is
non-aqueous extraction process. However, water is used to recover the
IL from sand. The required amount of water is much lower than typically
used for CHWE process. Due to wide liquidus range of IL, the water can
be easily evaporated from the IL/water mixture and thus recovered. The
disadvantages are attributed to the cost of the IL that is required in large
amount. Further, many of the ILs are toxic in nature. Therefore, com­
plete recovery of the IL is essential to avoid further contamination of
ionic moieties of IL in soil minerals. Therefore, the high cost and envi­
ronmental damage reported by using IL can be overcome through
extensive research in the domain of synthesis of cost effective and eco-
friendly ILs by utilizing the unique tuneable properties of ILs.
The review focuses on the detail work so far committed regarding the
ionic liquid promoted extraction of bitumen from oil sand. Since the
inception of IL as novel extractant of bitumen from oil sand, a consid­
Fig. 1. Schematic of IL promoted bitumen extraction from oil sand.
erable progress has been made establishing the applicability of various
classes of IL, effect of physiochemical properties influencing the sepa­
sustainable alternative process of extraction needs to be established as
ration and molecular interactions that lead to the extraction process. A
the demand of bitumen is growing in energy sector. These adverse ef­
handful of modelling studies also reveal the screening of IL and kinetics
fects on environment lead to explore the non-aqueous route of extraction
of separation. Keeping in mind that the experimental and theoretical
of bitumen from oil sand.
work of IL promoted extraction of bitumen from oil sand, this review
As an alternative process to the CHWE, several non-aqueous
aims to give a comprehensive background of the reported literature and
extraction (NAE) processes have been proposed. However, to date,
outline the future progress in this field. Section 2 gives a brief discussion
none of them are being implemented beyond pilot scale. A very good
on bitumen and its components. Section 3 highlights the IL promoted
review on these non-aqueous extraction processes can be found in
experimental and theoretical study of bitumen extraction. The selection
literature (Lin et al., 2017). Some of the notable NAEs are solvent alone
and role of IL are elaborated in section 4. Finally, we will outline the
extraction (SAE), solvent extraction spherical agglomeration (SEAS),
future direction of progress in section 5.
ionic liquid assisted solvent extraction (ILASE), switchable hydrophi­
licity solvent extraction (SHSE). However, NAEs are largely replacing
2. Bitumen
the water as solvent for froth which is limited to surface mining of oil
sand. As ionic liquid (IL) is one such promising non-aqueous medium,
Bitumen is a viscous, oily, and flammable material which is one of
this review limits the literature on surface mining of oil sand. In all four
the by-products obtained in distillation process of the crude oil in re­
processes, organic solvent (SAE, SESA), ionic liquid (ILASE), organic
fineries (Paliukaite et al., 2014). It is virtually involatile, waterproofing,
soluble form of switchable-hydrophilicity solvent (OS-SHS) are used in
and adhesive in nature and is almost soluble in toluene (Porto et al.,
place of large of amount of water. However, small amount of water is
2019). It is a complex mixture of compounds that have a huge variation
used for steam stripping to recover the organic solvent (in SAE), gen­
in terms of physical and chemical properties, polarity, molecular weight
eration of spherical agglomerate (in SESA), separate ionic liquid from
etc. (Lu et al., 1999; Petersen, 2000). Further, large amount of bitumen
extracted sand (in ILASE), and recovery of solvent and purification of
is stored in oil sands. The characteristics and properties of bitumen
bitumen (in SHSE). Among the four processes, ionic liquids can suc­
mainly depend on the characteristics of source as well as on its extrac­
cessfully extract bitumen from oil-wet as well as water-wet oil sand
tion processes and processing. However, elemental analysis of bitumen
easily and clearly. The addition of ionic liquid and organic solvent as
shows that it mainly consists of carbon (80–85 wt%), hydrogen (8–11 wt
co-solvent to the oil sand, form distinct three layers consist of organic
%), sulphur (0–9 wt%), nitrogen (0–2 wt%), oxygen (0–2 wt%), vana­
layer containing bitumen at the top, middle layer of IL and bottom layer
dium up to 2000 ppm and nickel up to 200 ppm (Porto et al., 2019).
of clay/sand. The process was first reported by Painter and co-workers
Water content varies from the source of bitumen. Berton et al. (2020)
(Hogshead et al., 2011; Painter et al., 2010). Over the last decade, this
reported that high grade Canadian oil sand contains solid (84 wt%),
process is further developed and extended to various classes of IL with
water (2.5 wt%) and bitumen (13.5 wt%).
promising results. The minimal use of water to separate IL from sand/­
The complex chemical formulation of bitumen makes the charac­
clay and recycling of water and IL from IL/water mixture by simple
terization processes difficult. Therefore, to ease down it is fractioned as
evaporation makes this process environmentally sustainable (Li et al.,
asphaltenes and maltenes (Porto et al., 2019). Maltenes are further
2011; Painter et al., 2010).
sub-classified as aromatics, resins and saturates. Maltenes along with
A schematic diagram of IL assisted extraction of bitumen is given in
asphaltenes are known as Bitumen SARA fraction (saturate, aromatic,
Fig. 1. In the experimental setup, IL along with oil sand is added in a
resin and asphaltene) (Paliukaite et al., 2014) and the proportion of each
mixer. In the case of acidic IL such as [BMIM][CF3SO3], organic solvent
fraction depends on the nature of the source. The physical and chemical
is also added, as acidic IL cannot extract bitumen from oil sand without
properties of bitumen are highly affected by the proportion of SARA.
addition of organic solvent. The mixture is then stirred at ambient
Colloidal structure, strength and stiffness of bitumen are affected by the
temperature or at elevated temperature depending upon the extraction
amount of asphaltenes. Similarly, the viscosity of bitumen is influenced
conditions, to homogenise the mixture. After stirring, centrifugation of
by the amount of aromatics and saturates. However, resins are respon­
the sample is done to get the clear separation. The addition of IL and
sible for plasticity and adhesion (Oyekunle, 2007). Although the column
organic solvent as co-solvent to the oil sand, form three distinct layers
chromatography is the traditional method to determine the fractional
after centrifugation that consist of organic layer containing bitumen at
composition of bitumen, newer techniques such as High-performance
the top, middle layer of IL and bottom layer of clay/sand. The bitumen at
liquid chromatography (HPLC), Thin-layer chromatography-flame
the top is taken out and is extracted by evaporating the organic solvent.
ionization detection (TLC-FID) techniques are increasingly used for

2
V.A. Joshi and D. Kundu Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 199 (2021) 108232

Table 2
Description of SARA fractions (Paliukaitė et al., 2014; Porto et al., 2019).
SARA Appearance Molecular Density Solubility
weight (in g/cm3 parameter
at 20 ◦ C) (MPa1/2)

Saturate water white, clear average ~0.9 15–17

liquid consisting molecular
of straight and weight of around
branched chain 600 g/mol
structure
Aromatic highly viscous, molecular ~1 17–18.5
black coloured weight varying
liquid containing between 300 and
lightly condensed 2000 g/mol with
aromatic rings average
molecular
weight of 800 g/
mol
Resin dark brown molecular ~1.07 18.5–20
coloured solid or weight varying
Fig. 2. Representative structure of SARA fractions from bitumen (Mashaan semisolid that has between 300 and
et al., 2014). similar chemical 2000 g/mol
properties to that
of asphaltenes and
Table 1 are a transition
Composition of various grades of bitumen (wt%). Reprinted from Ref. (Loeber form of oil to
asphaltene
et al., 1998) with permission.
Asphaltene black/brown molecular ~1.15 17.6–21.7
Bitumen (Grade) Aromatics Asphaltenes Resins Saturates coloured weight in the
amorphous solid. range of
B1 (70/100) 58.8 12.2 23.9 5.2
The structural unit 800–3500 g/mol
B2 (70/100) 61.2 11.0 23.5 4.3
consists of 4–10
B3 (70/100) 57.8 15.5 22.0 4.7
units of aromatic
B4 (10/20) 50.4 18.9 27.9 2.7
rings are joined
B5 (10/20) 48.8 19.2 29.3 2.65
together by
B6 (200) 56.7 15.2 22.8 5.3
simple, open-
E1 (70/100) 71.1 14.8 10.8 3.4
acyclic, non-
E2 (70/100) 69.8 14.2 11.0 5.0
aromatic chains as
E3 (70/100) 63.2 16.7 15.3 4.8
ring substitute.
E4 (70/100) 69.6 11.9 11.6 6.8
E5 (10/20) 53.1 22.0 21.2 3.7
L1 (70/100) 71.0 17.6 9.4 2.1
L2 (70/100) 59.9 18.9 16.7 4.5 application in the field of agriculture, building & industrial paving,
L3 (70/100) 66.3 16.9 14.6 2.2 hydraulics & erosion control, industrial, railways, recreation etc (Oye­
L4 (70/100) 64.2 17.7 15.7 2.4 kunle, 2007; Porto et al., 2019). Krishnan et al. (Murali Krishnan and
L5 (10/20) 59.7 18.4 15.1 6.8 Rajagopal, 2003) provided the detail discussion on the application of
L6 (10/20) 59.4 24.9 14.1 1.6
M1 (70/100) 55.5 25.4 15.1 4.0
bitumen and the details are given in Table S1 of supplementary data.
M2 (70/100) 54.4 23.7 16.2 5.7
M3 65 53.2 24.7 17.5 4.6 3. Literature on IL facilitated bitumen extraction
M4 45 51.6 27.6 17.0 3.8
M5 200 57.6 19.8 15.1 7.5
One of the earliest publications involving 1-butyl-3-methylimidazo­
N1 (70/100) 45.1 22.0 19.7 13.2
N2 (70/100) 49.3 23.5 18.3 8.9 lium trifluoromethanesulfonate and 1-butyl-2, 3-dimethylimidazolium
N3 (70/100) 49.8 22.7 19.4 8.13 tetrafluoroborate ILs as the extractant of bitumen from oil or tar sand has
G 45.7 47.5 3.8 3.0 been reported by Painter et al. (2010). At room temperature (~25 ◦ C) or
R 95.0 0 1.1 3.9 at elevated temperature (~55 ◦ C), bitumen can be extracted using ILs. At
this temperature range, IL promotes separation in three layers i.e.
efficient and accurate determination of SARA factions (Paliukaite et al., organic layer having bitumen, IL rich layer and a slurry layer of clay and
2014). Fig. 2 represents the structures of major components of bitumen sand. IL is separated from sand by using small amount of water. This
(Mashaan et al., 2014). Various grades of bitumen are defined by work shows promises for the further exploration of IL as an extractant of
varying the composition of SARA and represented in Table 1 (Loeber bitumen because of recyclability of ILs and minimal use of water during
et al., 1998) and notable physiochemical properties are given in Table 2. processing. Further enhancement in separation is observed with toluene
co-solvent. The formation of various nonbonded interactions promotes
2.1. Applications of Bitumen the bitumen separation from oil sand. Hogshead et al. (2011) revealed
various non-bonded interactions of oil sand/IL system with Atomic
Bituminous materials have gathered a great attention from numerous Force Microscopy (AFM). For this study 1-butyl-2, 3-dimethylimidazo­
researchers, scientists as well as of industries due to their properties lium tetrafluoroborate [BMMIM][BF4] is used. The AFM study reveals
(Porto et al., 2019). In past few years research has taken a boom in the comparison of adhesion force between silica and bitumen in IL
finding commercial applications of bitumen. Moreover, bitumen is medium to that in aqueous medium. The reduction of adhesion forces
considered as one of the low-cost thermoplastics from commercial point between silica and bitumen by an order in IL compare to the aqueous
of view (Porto et al., 2019). Addition of various modifiers and additives medium promotes higher degree of separation in IL medium. Therefore,
in bitumen such as polymers, chemical modifiers, anti-stripping addi­ this reduction in adhesion is concluded as major factor for easier sepa­
tives etc., enhance physical and chemical properties of bitumen. Thus, ration despite acknowledging the effect of viscosity of bitumen (Hogs­
the modified bitumen due to its enhanced properties has potential head et al., 2011). Williams et al. (Williams et al., 2010) reveal the

3
V.A. Joshi and D. Kundu
electrostatic interactions among the surface moieties of clay; sand and IL
are more favourable than that among silica, clay and bitumen. There­
fore, imidazolium class of IL favours the extraction.
Li et al. (2011) have used a relatively low viscous IL namely 1-eth­
yl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate ([EMIM][BF4]) for the
extraction of bitumen. The viscosity of IL is reduced by using acetone
and n-heptane as co-solvent. The extraction condition is optimized to
within 10 min at 25 ◦ C which increases the economic viability of the
process. Use of IL in large scale commercial separation process is skep­
tical due to apparent huge cost of synthesis of IL. However, due to the
easier recycling of IL in bitumen extraction process, it has been argued
that the separation process would be cheaper in operation if ILs are
recycled 10–20 times (Painter et al., 2010; Plechkova and Seddon,
2008). Instead of IL, Pulati et al. (Pulati et al., 2015) used deep eutectic
mixture of choline chloride and urea (ChCl/Urea) for the extraction of
bitumen from oil-wet Utah oil sand and water-wet Alberta oil sand. The
simple mixing of ChCl/Urea with oil sand at ambient temperature leads
to the separation processes by liquid-liquid extraction and solid-liquid
extraction. However, to lower the viscosity of bitumen, naphtha is
used as diluent and the extracted bitumen has below 0.5% mineral fines.
Despite IL facilitated extraction is the focus of this review; couple of
literature with deep eutectic solvent (DES) promoted extraction of
bitumen are mentioned. DES is a proportionate eutectic mixture of
hydrogen bond donor (HBD) and hydrogen bond acceptor (HBA) that
has lower melting temperature than their precursors. Similar to IL,
numerous DES can be synthesized by varying the combination as well as
molar ratio of HBD and HBA. The DES is able to donate and accept
protons with various solute in solution due to the presence of HBD and
HBA. The ability to form multiple non-bonded interactions enhances the
dissolution capability of DES (Kundu et al., 2020). Additionally, DES is
having low vapour pressure, high thermal stability and wide liquidus
range (Florindo et al., 2019; Zhang et al., 2012). These bring DES with
closer analogous with IL and thus in many extraction processes, IL is
being replaced with DES. For these reasons, we have presented the DES
promoted extraction of bitumen in this review.
Tourvieille et al. (Tourvieille et al., 2017) selected industrially
relevant IL having good stability with water, stability with hydrolysis
and very low viscosity (<50 mPa s) for the extraction of bitumen. As
imidazolium ILs are widely available commercially than pyridinium and
pyrrolidinium ILs, mono and di-alkyl imidazolium-based cations with
thiocyanate, dicyanamide, tetrafluoroborate anion based ILs are chosen.
Due to the cheap price, ethyl ammonium nitrate is also used. The
extraction kinetics of bitumen reveals the rate constant is drastically
reduced with the viscosity of IL. However, the kinetic profile of
extraction is the result of physiochemical interactions among oil sand
and IL moieties as well as hydrodynamic shear stress. Further surface
tension and contact angle are also considered as key points from ther­
modynamic stand point. The authors evaluate the kinetic coefficient
with respect to the viscosity of IL and concluded that the bitumen release
dynamics is dominated by the viscous effect regardless of complex in­
teractions among oil sand, IL and co-solvent (such as toluene). Above
mentioned literatures mainly aim to use the IL as a replacement of
CHWE process.
One of the derived products from bitumen is asphaltene. However,
high viscosity of asphaltene creates obstruction in flow assurance.
However, it is reported that addition of IL reduces the viscosity of
asphaltene and retain its flow assurance (H.-f. Fan et al., 2007). How­
ever, various structural and electronic properties such as lower cation
charge density and greater anionic charge density increases the elec­
trostatic interactions between the asphaltene and IL moieties which
eventually lower aggregation and subsequent precipitation of asphal­
tene. Abdelfatah et al. (2018) report IL promoted bitumen recovery from
oil sand by a miscible displacement process at lower temperature. This
method differs from the thermal methods which depend on the reduc­
tion of viscosity and therefore it can be applied for in situ recovery of
bitumen with less impact on environment. Task Specific Ionic Liquid
4
Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 199 (2021) 108232
(TSIL) which is basic in nature has proven effective for dissolution of
bitumen and subsequent separation. The sole use of TSIL mitigates the
necessity of co-solvent like hexane, toluene etc. and thus reduces the
flammability, volatility of organic solvent.
Ammonium based protic TSILs are used by Berton et al. (2020) for
the extraction of bitumen. The protic TSIL yields low solid content
(<1%) bitumen with low energy process. The large amount of water
used in traditional bitumen extraction process is not reusable easily.
Therefore, this polluted water creates massive environmental impact
which includes safety of aquatic and marine life, land reclamation and
water pollution. The IL facilitated extraction separates sand/clay and
bitumen in two different layers. However, in many such extractions,
small amount of water is added to separate sand from IL. Further ILs may
not be completely separable from extracted bitumen. Sui et al. used ion
exchange resin to remove the trace amount of IL from the extracted
bitumen solution (Sui et al., 2018). A two-step process consisting of
removal of IL from residual solid by water washing and use of sulfonic
acid containing cation exchange resin to remove IL from aqueous solu­
tion by adsorption-desorption cycle.
Li et al. (Li et al., 2016) used Conductor like Screening Model-Real
Solvent (COSMO-RS) based quantum chemical calculation to screen
the potential ILs for bitumen extraction. The solubility of unconven­
tional oil and heavy hydrocarbons in IL and calculation of surface energy
force act as descriptor of quantum chemical calculation for the screening
process. Hydrogen bonding force parameter, dispersion force parameter
and polar force parameter are determined to calculate the total solubi­
lity parameter. Among the three, dispersion force parameter dominates
the other two and play leading role in dissolving the heavy oil fractions.
Further, it is revealed that surface force energy of heavy hydrocarbons at
the IL-hydrocarbon interface is stronger than the organic solvent-IL
interface leading to the favourable condition of dissolution of oil frac­
tions in solvent. The interaction energy calculation reveals the stronger
interaction between silica and IL surface than between silica and oil
fraction. However, the oil recovery substantially decreases with the
increasing chain length of IL because of enhanced mutual solubility of
oil fractions and co-solvents in IL rich phases.
4. Selection and role of IL
ILs are molten salt and consist of organic cation and inorganic or
organic anion. The various combination of such ions leads to theoreti­
cally formulate enormous number of possible IL. Due to the presence of
cations and anions in molten state, ILs are highly polar in nature. Due to
the polar nature, ILs form various non-bonded interactions with other
compounds in the solution. This is particularly helpful in dissolving wide
range of solutes. In this regard, hydrogen bonding (H-bond) plays
dominating role in stacking, pairing and self-assembling of ion pairs of
IL. Dong et al. (2016) presented an insightful review regarding the role
of H-bond in IL. Tsuzuki et al. (2013) elaborated the electrostatic in­
teractions of ion pairs of protic and aprotic ILs. However, trace amount
of water is present during the synthesis of IL. The hygroscopic nature of
IL absorbs water which implies that the ionic moieties form nonbonded
interactions with the water molecules. Apart from that other charac­
teristic properties of IL include wide liquidus temperature, negligible
vapour pressure, high thermal stability. However, ILs can exhibit liquid
state at temperature ranging from − 96 ◦ C to 400 ◦ C depending upon
their physical properties (Rogers and Seddon, 2003). These character­
istic features have established IL as the preferred solvent over volatile
organic solvents. The effectiveness of IL in separation processes has been
established from simple to complex extraction processes (Bairagya et al.,
2020). ILs have also been proved as an excellent substitute to various
volatile organic solvent used in hydrocarbon and petroleum industries.
The notable applications of IL in the petroleum industry are cracking of
long chain asphaltenes to smaller chains for the upgradation of extra
heavy crude oil (Z.-x. Fan et al., 2009), prevention of aggregation of
paraffin and asphaltene inside pipeline during transportation (Bin
V.A. Joshi and D. Kundu Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 199 (2021) 108232

Table 3
Various ILs used in the extraction of bitumen from oil sand.
Author Ionic liquid Origin of oil sand Characterization techniques Outcome of experimental work Reference
name

Painter et al. [BMIM][CF3SO3], Medium grade • Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FT- • IL can be used to extract bitumen from oil or Painter et al.
[BMMIM][BF4] Canadian tar IR) was used to confirm the extraction. tar sand. However, the presence of non-polar (2010)
sand solvent such as toluene can enhance the
separation
• Reported yield is in excess of 90%
• Water is used to remove IL from the residual
clay and sand and is easily removed from IL
by the process of distillation
• Bitumen produced in this process was
reported to be free of both fines and residual
IL (verified using infrared spectroscopy)
Williams [BMMIM][BF4] Low-grade oil • FT-IR was used to verify that the extracted • IL can be used to separate bitumen from low- Williams
et al. sand from bitumen is free from both residual IL and clay grade oil sands with no detectable presence et al. (2010)
Alberta Research fines of fines in organic phase
Council • The extraction yield of bitumen varies from
4.4 to 7.5% (by weight) using [BMMIM]
[BF4] IL
• Infrared spectroscopy analysis of the
extracted bitumen was done in order to
confirm the absence of residual IL and clay
fines
Li et al. [BMMIM][BF4], Medium grade • Gas chromatography coupled with a hydrogen • Solvent extraction technology using Li et al.
[EMIM][BF4] Canadian tar flame detector and a TM-5 (15 m × 0.25 mm i. composite solvent (n-heptane and acetone) (2011)
sand d. × 0.25 μm) capillary column to determine enhanced by IL ([EMIM][BF4]) can be used
the distribution ratio of acetone and n-heptane to efficiently extract bitumen from oil sand
• FTIR was used to determine the residual IL and with high recovery efficiency (reported upto
bitumen in the spent sands and clay fines that 95%). It enables less use of water and
are entrained in the bitumen absence of residual IL and clay fines in
• Environmental scanning electron microscopy extracted bitumen. No issues of tailing water
(ESEM) was used to identify the IL and and high reusability of ILs (reported bitumen
bitumen residue in the spent sands by recovery >92% after 10 times reusage)
detecting the elemental composite and matrix • The experimental extraction results obtained
surface morphology led to the extension of bitumen recovery
• Elementar, Virio EL, CHNS analyzer was used technology using composite solvent (n-
to carry out organic elemental analysis of heptane and acetone) enhanced by IL
bitumen ([EMIM][BF4]) from bench scale to the oil
• Inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission sand industry
spectroscopy (ICP-AES) was used to quantify
the metal elements in bitumen
Hogshead [BMMIM][BF4] Medium-grade • Spin-caster was used to spin cast the bitumen • The adhesion forces between bitumen and Hogshead
et al. Canadian oil films from Alberta tar sands and Utah Oil sand silica are almost an order of magnitude et al. (2011)
sand and Utah from toluene smaller in the ionic liquid (IL) [BMMIM]
tar sand • QX5 computer microscope set at 60X [BF4], at ambient temperature than in an
magnification was used for determining aqueous solution (by AFM studies)
contact angle • The reduction in the force of adhesion is a
• Atomic force microscope (AFM) was used to major factor in the relative ease of
carry out adhesion energy studies separation observed in ILs
• ESEM was used to determine the diameter of • The work of separation of bitumen from
colloidal probes silica is significantly less in an IL than in an
aqueous solution as reported in Contact
angle measurement
• Thermodynamic arguments indicate that
detachment of oil from silica is much easier
in IL
• Formation of ion/charge layers on top of an
immersed surface plays a very important
role in the reduction of adhesion forces in
the IL, as compared to aqueous solutions
Tourvieille [AMIM][DCA], NA • Near-infrared (NIR) hyper-spectral imaging • Ionic liquids can be used to assist the Tourvieille
et al. [EtNH3] [NO3], was used for on-line scrutinizing the exiting extraction of bitumen from oil sand in a et al. (2017)
[EMIM][DCA], solvent waterless process
[EMIM][SCN], • Attenuated Total Reflectance Infrared • The recovery of bitumen and quality are
[BMMIM][BF4] Spectroscopy was used to characterize the assessed using a mixed-level experimental
recovered solids design
• The reported extraction yield for bitumen
varies from 87.5 to 91.6% and is highly
influenced by the choice of the solvent
• The best results were obtained using
[EtNH3] [NO3] IL
Abdelfatah TSIL NA • The viscosity of the effluent samples at • High performance with minimum energy Abdelfatah
et al. breakthrough from the column was measured input as compared to current technology for et al. (2018)
by using Rotation viscometer bitumen extraction from oil sand reservoirs
can be achieved using tailored IL
(continued on next page)

5
V.A. Joshi and D. Kundu Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 199 (2021) 108232

Table 3 (continued )
Author Ionic liquid Origin of oil sand Characterization techniques Outcome of experimental work Reference
name

• The composition of mixture was measured by
using Thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA)
Sui et al. [BMIM][BF4], NA • Ultraviolet–visible (UV–vis)
[EMIM][ BF4] spectrophotometry is used to determine the
concentration of the residual IL in filtrate
• ESEM with an energy disperse spectroscopy
(EDS) detector was used to determine the
composition of various elements in residual
sand after washing
• FTIR was used for characterization remaining
IL in ion exchange resins and residual sand
Berton et al. [P66614][Cl], NA • Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) was used
[EMIM][NTf2], for ensuring the composition of IL
[C4NH3][Oleate], • High vacuum system was used to study the
[C8NH3][Oleate], stability of IL
[C12NH3][Oleate], • TGA system was used to study the thermal
[HN222][Oleate], stability of IL
[HN444][Oleate], • Viscometer was used to determine the viscosity
[HN888][Oleate] of the synthesized ILs
• Density meter was used to determine the
density of synthesized ILs
• Laser diffraction particle size distribution
analyzer was used to determine the particle
size distribution of solid fraction
• ILs developed in this study can provide the
ease to target the specific constituent within
the bitumen and can also work as a
dissolution medium for complete recovery of
bitumen from high-grade oil sand at ambient
temperature
• Almost 100% bitumen recovery can be
achieved by simply injecting the tailored IL
at ambient temperature in the oil sand
• The process can be used to overcome the
economic and operational issues that are
associated with current bitumen recovery
processes like SAGD
• The removal of ILs ([BMIM][BF4]and Sui et al.
[EMIM][BF4]) from the residual sand after (2018)
the ILASE is reported using washing–ion
exchange combined method
• The adsorption analysis of two ILs onto ion-
exchange resins showed that over 90% of
ionic liquids can be adsorbed by the resins at
ambient conditions for 30 min.
• The adsorption of both ILs ([BMIM][BF4],
[EMIM][BF4]) on Amberlite IR 120Na resin
was found to be rate-controlled and can fit
with the Sips isotherm
• The regeneration tests proved the stable
performance of ion-exchange resins after
being reused for at least three times.
• This paper demonstrated that the proper Berton et al.
designing of ILs can lead to an efficient room (2020)
temperature extraction process with 100%
bitumen extraction with <1% solids
• The work described here represents only the
first step in developing an IL-based process
at room temperature that does not require
water for the extraction of bitumen
• The best performance in terms of higher
bitumen recovery with lower solid content in
the extracted bitumen along with the lowest
dosage was reported for [HN888] [Oleate] IL

*Full name of the IL.

1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium trifluoromethanesulfonate ([BMIM][CF3SO3]), 1-butyl-2,3-dimethylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate ([BMMIM][BF4]), 1-ethyl-3-methyl­
imidazolium tetrafluoroborate ([EMIM][BF4]), dodecyl trimethylammonium chloride (DTAC), 1-allyl-3-methylimidazolium dicyanamide ([AMIM][DCA]), ethyl
ammonium nitrate ([EtNH3][NO3]), 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium dicyanamide ([EMIM][DCA]), 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium thiocyanate ([EMIM][SCN]), trihex­
yltetradecylphosphonium chloride ([P66614]Cl), 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethyl sulfonyl)imide ([EMIM][NTf2]), butylammonium oleate ([C4NH3]
[Oleate]), octylammonium oleate ([C8NH3][Oleate]), dodecylammonium oleate ([C12NH3][Oleate], triethylammonium oleate ([HN222][Oleate]), tributylammonium
oleate ([HN444][Oleate]), trioctylammonium oleate ([HN888][Oleate]), 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide ([EMIM][NTf2]).

Dahbag et al., 2016), desalting oil-water emulsion (Lemos et al., 2010),
desulfurization (Anantharaj and Banerjee, 2011), and enhanced oil re­
covery (Nandwani et al., 2017). By tuning the cations and anions,
numerous TSILs can be designed which can modulate the product
selectivity, enantioselectivity, conductivity, yield, product separation in
order to meet the requirements in specific applications (Dharaskar,
2012).
The ILs so far used in the extraction of bitumen are mostly hydro­
phobic in nature. The hydrophobicity of ILs generally depends on the
alkyl chain length of cation and nature of anion. However, the task
specific oleate based ILs are protic in nature. The electrostatic interac­
tion between the IL and clay or sand particles overpowers the interaction
among bitumen and sand or clay particles. This enables the separation of
bitumen from clay and sand particles. The separated bitumen is dis­
solved in organic solvents to become a mobile phase. However, the
immiscibility of organic solvents with IL will create two distinct phases
and therefore efficient separation. Notable organic solvents such as
toluene, hexane are useful for such operations. In the IL assisted bitumen
extraction process, as seen from Table 1, imidazolium ions are most
explored over the ammonium and pyrrolidinium classes of IL. Giving the
complex structure of oil sand, with wide range of interactions between
organic/inorganic moieties with the cations and anions of IL, it is very
difficult to predict the type of ILs suitable for bitumen extraction. Strong
range of attachment between the sand and bitumen is reported at less
than pH = 6 (Painter et al., 2010). However acidic IL such as [BMIM]
[CF3SO3] (pH = 2.6 in aqueous solution) does not able to extract
bitumen from oil sand without the addition of organic solvent (Painter
et al., 2010). Bitumen has negative surface charge because of the pres­
ence of carboxylic moieties. The isoelectric point of silica is at pH = 3
and has negative surface charge. Therefore, in the mild alkaline or closer
to neutral pH, the repulsion among bitumen and silica particles in­
creases. This is believed to be the reason enhancement of extraction
efficiency near the neutral or mild alkaline pH. However, higher alkaline
medium changes the surface tension which is correlated with the
adhesion work. Therefore, bitumen recovery is declined with the addi­
tion of sodium hydroxide as the surface tension increases. On the other
hand, in the stronger acidic medium this repulsion decreases and the
dominant role is played by adhesion forces. The various moieties of IL
form electrostatic interaction with sand and thereby reducing adhesion
force between silica and bitumen. This reduction eventually separates

6
V.A. Joshi and D. Kundu Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 199 (2021) 108232

the sand from bitumen. However, the operational temperature for

extraction is within 55 ◦ C. Within this temperature, ILs are viscous
which creates difficulty in transportation and subsequent loss of IL.
However, the viscosity is reduced with the addition of nonpolar organic
solvent like acetone. Water is used to extract the IL from the extracted
sand. Due to the low vapour pressure of IL, it is easy to recycle IL to the
process by evaporating the water (Li et al., 2011; Painter et al., 2010).
ILs can act as a solvent or co-solvent depending upon its application.
The in-situ extraction process on the laboratory scale by using TSIL is
assumed to establish as an alternative to the CSS and SAGD methods
since TSIL such as [C4NH3][Oleate], [C8NH3] [Oleate], [C12NH3]
[Oleate], [HN222][Oleate], [HN444][Oleate], [HN888][Oleate] etc. re­
ported in literature can dissolve bitumen (Abdelfatah et al., 2018; Berton
et al., 2020). As the ILs are capable of dissolving the oil components,
therefore in this case ILs act as a solvent. On the other hand, as an
alternative process to the CHWE, several non-aqueous extraction (NAE)
processes have been proposed, one of them is ionic liquid assisted sol­
vent extraction (ILASE) (Lin et al., 2017). ILs can efficiently extract
bitumen from oil-wet as well as water-wet oil sand easily and clearly.
The addition of ionic liquid and organic solvent to the oil sand, form
distinct three layers consist of organic layer containing bitumen at the
top, middle layer of IL and bottom layer of clay/sand (Hogshead et al.,
2011; Painter et al., 2010). In this case the IL is acting as co-solvent as it
creates an interfacial barrier between oil component and sand. Upon
creating the barrier, the other organic solvent like toluene, alkanes etc.
dissolve the oil fractions and facilitate extraction.
The selection of IL also depends on the cost of synthesis of IL in the Fig. 3. Future scope of development.
bulk scale. However, the extracted IL with sand is separated with water
and recycled. It has been argued that 10–20 times of recycling of IL can be tuned for different recovery mechanisms (Abdelfatah et al.,
makes the process economical (Painter et al., 2010; Plechkova and 2018). This work established the basis for developing a new class of
Seddon, 2008). Considering the above-mentioned points, TSILs with in-situ recovery processes with low environmental impact and high re­
specific tuneability in physical and chemical functionality and covery efficiencies. They demonstrated an alternate means to extract
cost-effective synthesis would be better appealing for commercializa­ bitumen by in-situ method using IL. The reported ILs viz. IL1, IL2, IL3
tion. In the earlier reports, the ILs are only used to detach bitumen from and IL4 were synthesized by the procedure previously reported by
oil sand and the organic co-solvent is used to dissolve bitumen. There­ McCrary et al. (2013). The synthesized ILs were tested using a sand pack
fore, the effectiveness of IL in the extraction has become questioned flooding setup for in-situ bitumen extraction. ILs developed in this study
(Tourvieille et al., 2017). For the case of TSIL, the tuneable functionality worked as a dissolution medium for complete recovery of bitumen from
changes the hydrophilic/lipophilic balance of clay/water interface and high-grade oil sand at both ambient temperature and high temperature
bitumen/water interface (Berton et al., 2020). This enables the IL to and notable extraction results (almost 100% bitumen recovery) were
dissolve bitumen and subsequently detach the bitumen from solid obtained by changing the viscosities and injection rates of ILs (Abdel­
sand/water phase. With the careful choice of amphiphilic ions for TSIL, fatah et al., 2018). In addition to this, Berton et al. also reported the
Berton et al. are able to extract ~100% bitumen with <1% solid in room extraction of bitumen from ores using IL/mixture and ILs that can be
temperature condition (Berton et al., 2020). The choice of cation and used in in-situ extraction process. The reported ILs and IL/mixture viz.
anion are more critical in situ process as the intermolecular interactions [HN444][Oleate], [HN888][Oleate], [P66614][Cl], [P66614][Oleate],
with oil sand vary with the ion pairs. However, the neutral or basic [C4NH3][Oleate], [C8NH3][Oleate], [C12NH3][Oleate], [HN222]
nature of TSILs is able to dissolve bitumen in various extents which is [Oleate], [HN222][Oleate]+2 Oleic Acid, [HN444][Oleate]+Oleic Acid,
contrary to the nature of acidic IL. The tuneable physiochemical prop­ [HN444][Oleate]+2 Oleic Acid and [HN888][Oleate]+Oleic Acid, also
erties of IL originate from the combinations of cations and anions of IL. showed improved extraction results to almost 100% bitumen recovery
The theoretical possibility of combination is large and only a handful of (Berton et al., 2020). Thus, eco-friendly and cost effective ILs possess the
them are synthesized in laboratory and commercially available. There­ potential to be used as an extractant in in-situ extraction process.
fore, the experimental study of IL promoted bitumen extraction is time
consuming and expensive endeavour. A predictive model-based 4.1. Role of toxicity of IL
screening approach would certainly accelerate the pace of selection of
IL. In that essence calculation of interaction energy between IL-silica and The ILs mentioned in Table 3 has imidazolium, phosphonium and
silica-oil function is essential. The stronger interaction of IL-silica than ammonium class of cations with tetrafluoroborate, bis(trifluorosulfonyl)
the silica-oil phase would eventually help the transfer of oil fractions to imide, trifluoromethanesulfonate, acetate, dicyanamide, thiocyanate,
the organic phase (Li et al., 2016). oleate, chloride, nitrate anions. In this regard, Zhao et al. (2007)
In in-situ extraction process, the recovery rates of bitumen are reviewed toxicity of various classes of ILs which revealed that imida­
comparatively lower than mining operation in spite of high energy zolium based ILs with halide, tetrafluroborate anions produce similar
consumption and technological advancements. In addition to this, it also toxicity of ammonia and phenol. However, phosphonium and ammo­
has low certainty and more greenhouse gas (GHG) emission. However, nium based ILs have lower toxicity values with EC50 values are below
to overcome many of these problems, the inclusion of ILs in in-situ re­ 100 mg L− 1 (Berthelin, 1999). However, irrespective of the class of
covery process is beneficial. Research is being carried out in this domain cations, lower toxicity is observed with the shorter alkyl substitute
and improved results are obtained. Abdelfatah et al. reported that chains (up to C4) towards aquatic life whereas severe toxic effect is
miscible displacement process at low temperature can be employed for noticed with higher alkyl substituted chains (C8–C18) (Zhao et al., 2007).
the recovery of bitumen from oil sand by using TSIL, whose properties With regards to the toxicity, cations play the dominant role whereas role

7
V.A. Joshi and D. Kundu
of anion is not yet established (Sijm and Hermens, 2000). However, the
anions in IL play a major role in tuning the physiochemical properties
such as melting point, viscosity solubility etc. Stolte et al. (2007)
correlated various head groups, anions and functionalized side chains
with the cytotoxicity of IL in aquatic life. Further, the Ranke et al. (2007)
reviewed the ecotoxicological risk profiles of ionic liquids. Therefore, it
is evident from the above discussion that the toxicity of IL is vastly
important criteria while designing the extractant for bitumen extraction.
5. Future scope of development
Since the discovery of IL as a novel extractant for the bitumen from
oil sand, a handful of experimental literature has been published.
However, most of the publications are limited to North America and
China. These may be influenced by the geographic location specific
deposit of oil sand. However, as an alternative energy resource of crude
oil coupled with brewing technology of IL, the IL promoted NAE would
have imagined to gain pace in past decade. Fig. 3 represents the future
development areas of IL promoted NAE process. However, mostly imi­
dazolium based ILs have been working so far as non-aqueous solvent for
the surface mining operation and TSILs are reported in couple of articles
for the in-situ extraction operation. On the other hand, the modelling
aspect of IL promoted extraction has been completely neglected. The
lack of thermodynamic modelling of IL promoted extraction of bitumen
halts the progress. The complex structure of bitumen with mixture of
saturates, aromatics, resins and asphaltenes make the atomistic or mo­
lecular modelling difficult. Therefore, the molecular modelling tech­
niques like molecular dynamics study of bitumen has not been
attempted so far. The lack of understanding of intermolecular in­
teractions between the functionalities of bitumen with IL obstructs
predicting thermodynamic properties of this system. The lack of ther­
modynamic knowledge would eventually restrict the development of
equipment required for the scale up of successful laboratory experi­
ments. The commercial ILs detach the bitumen (i.e. SARA) from the oil
sand and act as co-solvent. The elemental analysis (Li et al., 2011) shows
that organic solvent usually dissolves the V, Ni, N, S, Al, Fe, Ti. N and S
are coming from primarily asphaltene and maltene whereas asphaltene
is primary source of other soluble minerals. However, combination of
organic solvent and IL reduces the solid fines in the extracted bitumen
(Li et al., 2011). Further the authors reported the absence of IL residue in
the spent sand by FTIR characterization. However, the literature does
not adequately address the issue of treatment of IL to remove the soluble
minerals.
The unavailability of modelling study hampers the choice of IL as
well. It has been shown that with proper tuning of cations and anions,
TSILs can be produced for the dissolution of bitumen. This opens up the
possibility of using IL in situ mining operation which is able to reach the
larger deposit of bitumen than the surface mining. However, the choice
of hydrophilic/amphiphilic combination of cation/anion is a tedious
task for the dissolution of bitumen. Hence the proper combination can
be precisely identified with suitable descriptor such as solubility, surface
energy etc. One such appreciable approach is using COSMOtherm
package to calculate the solubility of SARA fractions in IL (Li et al.,
2016). Due to the same reason, mostly imidazolium based ILs are used as
replacement of CHWE process. However, the state of art approach such
as artificial intelligence, deep learning could prove valuable tool to
design the TSIL. The designing of materials with artificial intelligence
and deep learning approach are discussed in the literature (Kim et al.,
2017).
The modelling aspects of thermodynamic properties of IL/oil sand
system has not been reported till date. However, limited progress has
been achieved with the solvent mediated bitumen extraction process.
The viscosity and density of n-heptane/Athabasca-bitumen mixtures are
modelled at a pressure range of 2–10 MPa and temperature range of
22–190 ◦ C (Nourozieh et al., 2015). Using the volume fractions, the most
reliable results for viscosities are obtained by using Cragoe’s model and
8
Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 199 (2021) 108232
power law model. However, Kariznovi et al. (Kariznovi et al., 2013)
report that power law and Lederer’s model correlate the viscosity data of
Athabasca bitumen/n-tetradecane mixture better than the respective
prediction by Shu’s Arrhenius and Cragoe’s models. He and Ghoniem
have developed generalized group contribution pseudo component
methodology to model the phase behaviour of petroleum fluid and pure
component mixture (He and Ghoniem, 2015). However, the model is
validated with the mixture of bitumen and one of the components i.e.
water, carbon dioxide, propane. Many ILs are discarded with high syn­
thesis cost. Since, the commercial application volume of bitumen
extraction is huge; the economically viable synthesis of IL is one of the
major challenges. However, efficient recycling procedure with the state
of the art designing of the process line will bring down the operation
cost. Finally, last but not the least is the disposal of waste from the
extraction operation.
The cost of ILs will play a vital role in oil industry while utilizing it as
an extractant on a commercial scale. Notable imidazolium ILs used for
the extraction process are 1-butyl-2,3-dimethylimidazolium tetrafluo
roborate [BMMIM][BF4], 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium trifluorom
ethanesulfonate ([BMIM][CF3SO3]), 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium tet­
rafluoroborate ([EMIM][BF4]) etc. However, subsequent research has
proved the recyclable phenomena of ILs (Li et al., 2011; Painter et al.,
2010; Plechkova and Seddon, 2008). Therefore, due to the easier recy­
cling of IL in bitumen extraction process, it has been argued that the
separation process would be cheaper in operation if ILs are recycled
10–20 times (Painter et al., 2010; Plechkova and Seddon, 2008).
Therefore, ILs can be recycled for reuse and thus can make the process
cheaper. In addition to this emphasis on the disposal mechanism of
waste IL, organic co-solvent, discarded sand foresee the sustainability of
the process. Since, the commercial application volume of bitumen
extraction is huge; the economically viable synthesis of IL is one of the
major challenges. However, its unique tuneable property makes it more
advantageous than the traditional polymers or solvents. In addition to
this, its cost can also be altered significantly by changing its composition
and by using protic ILs. The in-situ extraction process presumes to design
TSILs that dissolve the oil component of oil sand. The estimated cost of
synthesis of best performing IL i.e. [HN444][Oleate] is reported 25.4
USD/L which enhances the possibility of reduced cost of operation for
large scale (Berton et al., 2020). The elimination of water from the
extraction process encourages extraction in environment friendly op­
tion. Therefore, emphasis on the research in the domain of designing the
ILs can lead to the production of eco-friendly and cost effective ILs.
6. Conclusion
IL has been established as a novel extractant and widely used in the
petroleum industry. The extraction ability of IL has been successfully
used for past decade to extract bitumen from oil sand. The review has
summarized all such successful application of IL promoted bitumen
extraction from oil sand. The role, key characteristics and selection
criteria of IL are duly discussed in this review. Despite the promising
separation phenomena, the growth of this field is so far limited to
experiment with mostly imidazolium-based IL and TSIL. The reason for
limited database is attributed to the near absence of modelling study.
Therefore, the review also suggests the possible modelling of IL/oil sand
system to understand the thermodynamics of the system. The detail
understanding would further open up specific design of equipment for
IL/oil sand system.
Funding information
This research did not receive any specific grant from funding
agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
V.A. Joshi and D. Kundu
Declaration of competing interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.
Appendix A. Supplementary data
Supplementary data to this article can be found online at https://doi.
org/10.1016/j.petrol.2020.108232.
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V.A. Joshi and D. Kundu
Vedant A. Joshi: Mr. Vedant A. Joshi is pursuing Integrated
Master of Technology in Chemical Engineering with speciali­
zation in Petroleum and Petrochemical Technology from
Institue of Chemical Technology Marathwada Campus, Jalna.
His research interest lies in the petroleum industry mainly in
the domain of aromatic extraction, fluid catalytic cracking,
advanced gas separation along with modelling and simulation.
10
Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 199 (2021) 108232
Debashis Kundu: Dr. Debashis Kundu is Assistant Professor in
Chemical Engineering at Institue of Chemical Technology
Marathwada Campus, Jalna. His research interest lies in the
thermodynamic modelling of various processes related to the
petroleum industry. He has authored twenty peer reviewed
international articles and co-authored a book in the field of
ionic liquid promoted liquid-liquid equilibrium.