Liquid-Liquid equilibrium Behavior and intermolecular interactions of Levulinic acid and water with isopropyl ether and methyl Tert-Butyl ether

Abstract

Levulinic acid (LA) is a crucial bio-based chemical with extensive industrial applications. Due to its significant share in the cost of production, the development of efficient techniques for the separation of LA is essential. Traditional separation using sulphuric acid raises environmental and cost concerns, making liquid–liquid extraction a more sustainable and cost-effective alternative. liquid–liquid equilibrium (LLE) investigation was carried out for two ternary mixtures of water + LA + isopropyl ether / methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) at two temperatures and 101.3 kPa. The results indicated that the solvent MTBE, as an extractant, showed a higher partition coefficient and selectivity for LA than isopropyl ether, demonstrating its superior effectiveness in recovering LA. The interaction insights between LA and the extractants were explored using quantum chemistry calculations, which aligned well with the collected results. The ascertained LLE data was modeled using the NRTL equation, achieving the RMSD values below 0.01, demonstrating a good concordance between the collected data and computed values. The fitted NRTL model parameters are conducive to the designing and optimizing the LA separation process.