Isobaric Vapor-Liquid-Liquid Equilibria for the Ternary Systems Ethanol plus Water plus Propyl Acetate and 1-Propanol + Water plus Propyl acetate

In order to break azeotropes appearing in mixtures of water and either ethanol or 1-propanol, an azeotropic distillation process is proposed using propyl acetate as entrainer. Therefore, isobaric vapor-liquid-liquid equilibrium (VLLE) data at atmospheric pressure have been obtained for the ternary systems ethanol + water + propyl acetate and 1-propanol + water + propyl acetate. Data correlation has been carried out in four different ways and a comparison between the results obtained in each correlation has been done. The set of parameters obtained from the best correlation has been used in the VLLE estimation. Effects of using propyl acetate as entrainer in the azeotropic distillation have been discussed, and a three-column distillation sequence to separate 1-propanol and water has been proposed.