Mercury capture from hydrocarbon fluids using deep eutectic solvents

1. A method for the extraction of mercury from a mercury-containing hydrocarbon feed, comprising the steps:

providing a hydrocarbon feed, wherein the hydrocarbon feed comprises a mercury source at an initial concentration C Hg,i ;

providing a hydrophilic deep eutectic solvent;

contacting the hydrophilic deep eutectic solvent with the hydrocarbon feed to form an extraction mixture; and

separating a hydrocarbon product from the extraction mixture, wherein the hydrocarbon product comprises the mercury source at a final concentration C Hg,f , wherein C Hg,f , is smaller than C Hg,i ;

wherein the hydrophilic deep eutectic solvent comprises at least one hydrogen bond acceptor and at least one hydrogen bond donor,

wherein the at least one hydrogen bond donor is an amine, an amide, a carboxylic acid or an alcohol,

wherein the at least one hydrogen bond acceptor is a zwitterionic compound selected from the group consisting of proline, glycine, and N,N,N-trimethylglycine, and

wherein the at least one hydrogen bond acceptor and the at least one hydrogen bond donor are included in the hydrophilic deep eutectic solvent in a molar ratio of about 1:2.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the mercury source is elemental mercury, an ionic mercury compound, and/or an organic mercury compound.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one hydrogen bond donor is selected from the group consisting of urea, acetamide, thiourea, amino acids, malic acid, maleic acid, citric acid, lactic acid, pyruvic acid, fumaric acid, glycolic acid, succinic acid, acetic acid, aconitic acid, tartaric acid, malonic acid, ascorbic acid, glucuronic acid, oxalic acid, neuraminic acid, sialic acids, levulinic acid, trichloroacetic acid, phenylacetic acid, sucrose, glucose, fructose, lactose, maltose, arabinose, ribose, ribulose, galactose, rhamnose, raffinose, xylose, mannose, trehalose, mannitol, sorbitol, inositol, ribitol, galactitol, erythritol, xyletol, adonitol, cresol, phenol, ethylene glycol.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the zwitterionic compound includes an amine group, a quaternary ammonium group or a phosphonium group.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the hydrophilic deep eutectic solvent comprises choline chloride and urea; and/or choline chloride and ethylene glycol; and/or choline chloride and levulinic acid; and/or betaine and levulinic acid.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the hydrocarbon feed is a liquid.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the hydrophilic deep eutectic solvent and the hydrocarbon feed are provided in a mass ratio of between 1:1 and 2:1.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the contacting is conducted at a temperature of at least 20° C.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the contacting is conducted at a temperature of at most 50° C.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the contacting is conducted at atmospheric pressure.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the contacting is conducted for at least 1 hour.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the hydrocarbon product is separated from the extraction mixture by means of gravity separation.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein C Hg,f , is at most 0.3 C Hg,i .

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method has an extraction efficiency E, defined as (C Hg,i −C Hg,f )/C Hg,i of at least 0.85.

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein after separating the hydrocarbon product, the hydrophilic deep eutectic solvent is recovered from the remaining extraction mixture.