Separation of azeotropic mixture of ethyl acetate and isopropyl alcohol by extractive distillation: simulation, economic analysis and experimental validation

This work has devised a methodology to separate the mixture of ethyl acetate and isopropyl alcohol, which forms a minimum boiling azeotrope into pure streams using an entrainer in the extractive distillation (ED) column. Binary vapour liquid equilibrium (VLE) data were obtained from relevant literature and various thermodynamic models were used for prediction. Heuristics and rules of thumb were used for short-listing the model. Correct prediction of VLE and ability of the model to predict azeotrope were used as a criterion to select the best model, to develop the ED process. Modelling, simulation and economic analysis were conducted to select the more effective entrainer between dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and dimethyl formamide (DMF). Sensitivity analysis was used to obtain a sensible range of parameters. Experiments were conducted using the chosen entrainer to qualitatively validate predictions. It was observed that almost pure components are obtained and the entrainer is recovered almost completely. Overall flowsheet of separation is proposed.