Liquid-liquid equilibrium for the quaternary system of o-xylene(1)+water(2) +propionic acid(3)+1-butanol(4) at 298.15 K and atmospheric pressure

The liquid-liquid equilibrium for the quaternary system of o-xylene(1)+water(2)+propionic acid(3)+1-butanol(4) was measured at 298.15 K and atmospheric pressure. Binodal curves, tie-lines, a distribution curve, and a selectivity curve for the quaternary system have been determined in order to investigate the effect of binary solvents, oxylene and 1-butanol, on extracting propionic acid from aqueous solution. In addition, these experimental tie line data were also compared with the values predicted by the UNIFAC model. In this study, the UNIFAC model was capable of predicting the compositions of this quaternary system within an average RMSD of 1.13 mol%. This paper was prepared at the 2004 Korea/Japan/Taiwan Chemical Engineering Conference held at Busan, Korea between November 3 and 4, 2004.