Phase behavior and intermolecular interaction analysis of the ternary system of water + 2-methylpyridine + octanols from 303.2 K to 323.2 K

Abstract

Wastewater from coking and pharmaceutical processes often contain a significant amount of 2-methylpyridine, which forms an azeotropic mixture with water. Effectively and cleanly separating 2-methylpyridine from wastewater while conserving energy and obtaining high purity products is an urgent challenge. In this study, ternary liquid-liquid equilibrium (LLE) data for the extraction of 2-methylpyridine from wastewater were measured using three distinct solvents at temperatures of 303.2 K, 313.2 K, and 323.2 K. The obtained ternary data were subsequently correlated with thermodynamic models (NRTL and UNIQUAC) to get relevant binary interaction parameters, bridging a gap in Aspen Plus simulations of 2-methylpyridine separation by octanol solvents. Furthermore, the GUI tool was used to validate these parameters and the results confirmed the reliability of the obtained parameters. It was observed that as the temperature increased, the extraction performance of all systems decreased, indicating that elevated temperature are not conducive to the extraction process. Among the various components, iso-octanol showed the highest separation factor indicating better extraction efficiency of 2-methylpyridine. Additionally, this study integrated quantum chemical calculations to reveal the interaction mechanisms between different solvents, 2-methylpyridine, and water at the microscopic level. The computational results indicated that iso-octanol exhibited the most robust binding affinity with 2-methylpyridine, suggesting that iso-octanol has more excellent extraction properties.