An Additional Condition of Efficiency of the Supercritical Fluid Extraction Process

The extraction of valuable components (methyl phenyl carbinol, acetophenone, ethylbenzene, phenol, propylene glycol) from industrial wastewater formed during styrene–propylene oxide coproduction by the hydroperoxide method at PAO Nizhnekamskneftekhim was used as an example to formulate and discuss approaches to increasing the efficiency of the extraction process performed under supercritical fluid conditions beyond the binodal for the systems desired component–extractant with type I and II phase behavior. The assumptions were experimentally confirmed by studying the extraction of methyl phenyl carbinol and phenol from their aqueous solutions with such extractants as carbon dioxide in the liquid and supercritical fluid state and also a supercritical propane/butane mixture. The phase equilibrium of the thermodynamic system propane/butane–propylene glycol was experimentally investigated at 403, 423, and 443 K.