Proposal of Isobutyl Alcohol as Entrainer To Separate Mixtures Formed by Ethanol and Water and 1‑Propanol and Water

Isobutyl alcohol (IBA) has been proposed as a solvent to carry out the dehydration of ethanol and 1-propanol by means of a nonconventional distillation process. In this way, isobaric vapor–liquid equilibrium (VLE) and vapor–liquid–liquid equilibrium (VLLE) data at atmospheric pressure have been obtained for the ternary systems ethanol (1a) + water (2) + IBA (3) and 1-propanol (1b) + water (2) + IBA (3). Then, these data have been correlated to obtain a set of parameters capable of estimating VLE and VLLE. According to the results achieved, distillation sequences to separate water and ethanol or 1-propanol have been proposed. Finally, a study about the minimum amount of entrainer required to break the azeotrope of the mixture ethanol/1-propanol + water is carried out.