Liquid-Liquid Equilibrium for Ternary Systems 2,2,2-Trifluoroethanol plus Water plus (Ethyl Acetate/Isopropyl Acetate/ Isobutyl Acetate) at 308.15 K under 101.3 kPa

2,2,2-Trifluoroethanol (C2H3F3O, TFE) is a useful fluorine-containing alcohol. During the synthesis and application of TFE, TFE, and water can form an azeotropic mixture. To recover TFE from the mixture of TFE and water by liquid-liquid extraction (LLET), in the current work, three organic solvents, isobutyl acetate (C6H12O2), isopropyl acetate (C5H10O2), and ethyl acetate (C4H8O2), were chosen as the extractants. The liquid-liquid equilibrium (LLE) behavior for the three mixtures (water + TFE + ethyl acetate/isopropyl acetate/isobutyl acetate) was investigated at 101.3 kPa and 308.15 K. Selectivity (S) and distribution constant (D) were calculated as indexes to evaluate the extraction capacity of the three extractants. The results indicated that isobutyl acetate has better extraction ability in extracting TFE from its aqueous solution of TFE compared to the esters. The NRTL model was used to regress the determined tie-line data. The coherence of the fitted parameters of the NRTL model with the experimental data was checked by topological analysis.

Automated summary

In this study, three organic solvents were selected as extractants to recover 2,2,2-trifluoroethanol (TFE) from its azeotropic mixture with water. The results showed that isobutyl acetate has better extraction ability.