Removing hydrocarbon impurities from acetic acid by ionic liquid extraction

1. A method for removing a hydrocarbon impurity from an acetic acid production process, said method comprising:

(a) reacting methanol and carbon monoxide in the presence of a carbonylation catalyst, a catalyst stabilizer, methyl iodide, water and methyl acetate to produce an acetic acid stream containing a hydrocarbon impurity;

(b) flashing at least a portion of the acetic acid stream into a vapor stream comprising acetic acid, water, methanol, methyl acetate, methyl iodide and the hydrocarbon impurity, and a liquid stream comprising the catalyst and the catalyst stabilizer;

(c) separating the vapor stream from step (b) by distillation into a product stream comprising acetic acid and a minor amount of water, and an overhead stream comprising methyl iodide, water, methyl acetate, acetic acid and the hydrocarbon impurity;

(d) condensing and separating the overhead stream from step (c) into a light, aqueous phase comprising water, acetic acid, and methyl acetate, and a heavy, organic phase comprising methyl iodide, acetic acid, methyl acetate, and the hydrocarbon impurity; and

(e) distilling at least a portion of the heavy, organic phase from step (d) into a vapor stream comprising methyl iodide and a bottoms stream comprising acetic acid, methyl acetate, methyl iodide, and the hydrocarbon impurity; and

(f) extracting the bottoms stream of step (e) with an hydrophilic imidazolium salt, wherein the hydrophilic imidazolium salt has the general structure:

wherein x⊖ is a counter ion and R 1 , R 2 , R 3 , R 4 and R 5 are independently selected from the consisting of hydrogen and C 1 -C 6 hydrocarbon substitutes, and forming a light phase comprising the hydrocarbon impurity and a heavy phase comprising the ionic liquid, acetic acid, and methyl iodide.

2. The method of claim 1 , which comprises removing the ionic liquid from the heavy phase from step (f) and then recycling the heavy phase to the carbonylation reaction of step (a).

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the catalyst is a rhodium catalyst.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the catalyst stabilizer is triphenylphosphine oxide.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the hydrocarbon impurity is selected from the group consisting of alkanes, alkenes, aromatics, and mixtures thereof.

6. The method of claim 1 , the distillation of step (e) is conducted at an overhead temperature less than 75° C.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the distillation of step (e) is conducted at an overhead temperature within the range of about 43° C. to about 60° C.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the distillation of step (e) is conducted at an overhead temperature within the range of about 43° C. to about 45° C.