Experimental Determination and Correlation of Liquid–Liquid Equilibria for Methyl Isopropyl Ketone + Phenol + Water Mixtures at 298.15, 313.15, and 323.15 K

Liquid–liquid equilibria (LLE) data for the ternary system, methyl isopropyl ketone (MIPK) + phenol + water, were measured at 298.15 K, 313.15 and 323.15 K under atmospheric pressure by gas chromatography. Distribution coefficients and separation factors were calculated to evaluate the extracting performance of methyl isopropyl ketone, which was proven to be a very efficient solvent to extract phenol from aqueous solution, with distribution coefficients for phenol even higher than those of methyl isobutyl ketone (MIBK) or methyl butyl ketone (MBK). The nonrandom two-liquid (NRTL) and universal quasi-chemical activity coefficient (UNIQUAC) models were used to correlate the experimental data to yield binary interaction parameters for phenol extraction process design or optimization.