Patent ID: 8821716

Claim:
A process for extracting sulfur and sulfur compounds from a sulfur-containing hydrocarbon liquid comprising the steps of: contacting the sulfur-containing hydrocarbon liquid with an ionic liquid of a heterocyclic cation and an iron (III) halide anion for sufficient time for said ionic liquid to extract the sulfur and sulfur compounds from the hydrocarbon liquid, wherein the ionic liquid is symmetrical and the heterocyclic cation has the formula where R 1 and R 3 are the same and are selected from the group consisting of hydrogen alkyl groups having 1 to 10 carbon atoms; alicyclic alkyl groups having from 1 to 10 carbon atoms; linear or branched C 1 -C 10 alkoxy groups and functionalized C 1 -C 10 alkyl groups having one heteroatom selected from the group consisting of N, O, S and halogen atoms, R 2 is selected from the group consisting of hydrogen; alicyclic alkyl groups having from 1 to 10 carbon atoms; linear or branched C 1 -C 10 alkoxy groups and functionalized C 1 -C 10 alkyl groups having a heteroatom selected from the group consisting of N, O, S and halogen atoms, and the anion is FeCl 4 − ; and recovering the hydrocarbon liquid.