Question

I need to separate isobutanol from water. My current idea is to use liquid-liquid extraction and then feeding it into a distillation column.


My only concern is right now is trying to find a extractant that I can add to a water/isobutanol solution that will separate the two without any side reactions, and then separate in a distillation process.   I know toluene is a common solvent, and that it isn’t soluble in water. I just question if it will be useful during the distillation process to get a 99.5% mole purity.  

Is toluene a good choice (no side reactions and meets the above). If not, or so….what method (other than VLE diagrams) should I use to figure this out on my own.

Answer 1

Yes toulene is not reactive or soluble in water and isobutanol.

so it will not form side products.

toulene can be a good choice to separate this two.