Separation of Toluene-2-Ethoxyethanol Azeotropic Mixture by Extractive Distillation

Abstract

Toluene and 2-ethoxyethanol formed a minimum azeotrope, and extractive distillation should be a suitable method to separate their mixture. In this work, a systematic study of the separation of toluene-2- ethoxyethanol mixture with an entrainer by extractive distillation was performed. In order to break the original binary azeotrope, DMF was chosen as the entrainer. Vapor-liquid equilibrium (VLE) of toluene-2- ethoxyethanol-DMF system was determined experimentally, and NRTL model was the best one to predict this system. The feasibility analysis of this process was validated by simulation through chemical process simulation software and the optimal operating conditions of the extractive distillation process were valuable for industrial applications. Simulation results were then corroborated in a batch experimental packing column. In the simulation, toluene and 2-ethoxyethanol, whose purity is more than 98.6% and 99.6%, respectively, was obtained.