Experimental studies and thermodynamic analysis of isobaric vapor-liquid-liquid equilibria of 2-propanol + water system using n-propyl acetate and isopropyl acetate as entrainers

Abstract

Heterogeneous azeotropic distillation is a widely used technique in chemical industries for the purification of alcohols from their aqueous mixtures. This study aims at exploring the possibility of using n-propyl acetate and isopropyl acetate as entrainers for heterogeneous azeotropic distillation to effect the separation of 2-propanol + water azeotropic mixture. A novel yet simple still was constructed to measure the vapor-liquid equilibrium (VLE) and vapor-liquid-liquid equilibrium (VLLE) data for the binary and ternary systems. The isobaric VLE data for the binary systems 2-propanol + water, 2-propanol + n-propyl acetate and 2-propanol + isopropyl acetate and isobaric VLLE data for the ternary systems 2-propanol + water + n-propyl acetate and 2-propanol + water + isopropyl acetate were measured at atmospheric pressure. Subsequently, the experimental data was compared with predictions by thermodynamic models such as UNIFAC, UNIQUAC and NRTL. The feasibility of the entrainers n-propyl acetate and isopropyl acetate in separating the azeotropic mixture 2-propanol + water was studied using the Residue Curve Map (RCM). The experimental data showed the existence of a ternary homogeneous azeotrope in the 2-propanol + water + n-propyl acetate system and a heterogeneous ternary azeotrope in the 2-propanol + water + isopropyl acetate system. Since the heterogeneous azeotropic distillation process depends on the presence of ternary heterogeneous azeotrope, n-propyl acetate is not considered a suitable entrainer for the separation of 2-propanol + water mixture. Finally, a separation sequence for the heterogeneous azeotropic distillation of 2-propanol + water system using isopropyl acetate as entrainer has been proposed.