Evaluation of different methods for the separation of acetonitrile and water. Part 1: Extractive distillation and distillation under reduced pressure

Sander, Aleksandra; Rogošić, Marko; Vezjak Fluksi, Alegra; Frljak, Leonarda; Petračić, Ana; Parlov Vuković, Jelena (2025) Evaluation of different methods for the separation of acetonitrile and water. Part 1: Extractive distillation and distillation under reduced pressure. Journal of Molecular Liquid, 429 . ISSN 0167-7322

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Abstract

Conventional distillation is not able to separate the components of azeotropic mixtures efficiently, as vapour and liquid phase are identical in composition, and other techniques such as pressure swing distillation or distillation with entrainer are often used. The aim of this study was to explore the novel possibilities for separating azeotrope-forming mixture of acetonitrile and water. In this respect, extractive distillation and reduced pressure distillation were investigated. Extractive distillation was carried out with hydrophilic deep eutectic solvents (DESs) and various solid compounds. Reduced pressure distillation was carried out with and without entrainer. According to experiments, K2CO3 – ethylene glycol (1:10) and choline chloride were found to be the best new entrainers for extractive distillation, and novel DESs based on glycolic acid performed best in entrained reduced pressure distillation. The entraining effect was predicted with the COSMO-RS model, by calculating the σ-profiles of individual components and mixtures as well as the activity coefficients of individual components. Better predictions were obtained for extractive distillation with liquid DES entrainers. Vacuum evaporation proved to be a successful method for the regeneration of hydrophilic DESs.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	acetonitrile; azeotrope; deep eutectic solvents; extractive distillation; reduced pressure distillation; regeneration
Subjects:	TECHNICAL SCIENCES > Chemical Engineering TECHNICAL SCIENCES > Chemical Engineering > Mechanical, Thermal and Separation Processes
Divisions:	NMR Center
Depositing User:	Jelena Parlov Vuković
Date Deposited:	29 Dec 2025 13:49
URI:	http://fulir.irb.hr/id/eprint/10649
DOI:	10.1016/j.molliq.2025.127576

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