Dhoni Hartanto, Boelo Schuur, Anton A. Kiss, André B. de Haan
Green solvents have emerged as promising green entrainers to substitute conventional entrainers in extractive distillation to separate azeotropic mixtures. However, the limited availability of thermodynamic data for green-solvent-containing mixtures continues to hinder their practical implementation in this process. This study is the first to report experimental vapor–liquid equilibrium (VLE) data for the n-hexane + ethanol azeotropic system containing the greener entrainer 1-butylpyrrolidin-2-one (NBP) alongside the benchmark entrainer 1-methylpyrrolidin-2-one (NMP). Using a Fischer Labodest VLE602 ebulliometer, VLE measurements were performed at pressures of 50.0 and 100.0 kPa and various entrainer-to-feed ratios (E/F). The reliability of the reported VLE data was tested and confirmed using the Van Ness thermodynamic consistency test. The results show that NBP enhances relative volatility and effectively eliminates the azeotrope, performing comparably to the benchmark entrainer NMP. The nonrandom-two-liquid (NRTL) model was utilized to regress the investigated VLE data and determine the optimum binary interaction parameters (BIPs). As a result, the NRTL model demonstrates good agreement with the experimental data. This thermodynamic modeling confirms the data’s reliability and suitability for process design, highlighting NBP’s potential as an environmentally friendly alternative entrainer in extractive distillation. © 2025 American Chemical Society
Department of Chemical Engineering, Delft University of Technology, Van der Maasweg 9, Delft HZ, 2629, Netherlands; Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Negeri Semarang, Kampus Sekaran, Gunungpati, Semarang, 50229, Indonesia; Faculty of Science and Technology, Sustainable Process Technology, University of Twente, Enschede, 7500 AE, Netherlands
