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Abstract
Several organic solvents were examined as potential separating agents for ethanol recovery from aqueous solutions by liquid-liquid extraction. Phase composition determinations for five promising ethanol-water-solvent systems at 20 and 40°C and two solvent-to-feed ratios show that isoamyl acetate (IAA) and isooctyl alcohol (IOA) along with n-butyl acetate (BA) present a greater potential than dibutyl ether and dibutyl oxalate. Tie-line liquid-liquid equilibrium data at 25°C for the three promising solvents (IAA, IOA, and BA) were collected and analyzed. Both IAA and IOA were found to be very good separating agents, exhibiting ethanol distribution coefficients greater than 1, and separation factors in Bancroft coordinates of the order of 70 and 2000, respectively.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors gladly acknowledge the help of Dr. I. Markopoulos of the Chemistry Department, Athens University, in providing some of the solvents used. O.S.U. is grateful to the National Scholarship Foundation of Greece for financial assistance during the preparation of this work.