Thermodynamics Research Center / ThermoML | Journal of Chemical and Engineering Data

ABSTRACT

In this work, ionic liquids (ILs) were selected as extractive distillation entrainers to separate the 2-butanone + ethanol binary azeotropic mixture because of their remarkable molecular designability, high selectivity, low volatility and other excellent characteristics. The isobaric vapor-liquid equilibrium (VLE) data for the ternary systems of 2-butanone + ethanol + acetate-based ILs (1-ethyl- 3-methylimidazolium acetate [EMIM][OAC], 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate [BMIM][OAC] and 1-hexyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate [HMIM][OAC]) were measured at 101.3 kPa in an allglass dynamic recirculating still. The addition of ILs can significantly enhance relative volatility of 2-butanone to ethanol, and the azeotropy of the 2-butanone + ethanol binary mixture is eventually eliminated by increasing the ILs content to a certain value. The separation efficiency of the three ILs follows the order: [EMIM][OAC] greater than [BMIM][OAC] greater than [HMIM][OAC]. Additionally, the binary and ternary VLE data are well correlated with the nonrandom two-liquid (NRTL) model.