Salt effect on the liquid–liquid equilibrium of the ternary (water + phenol + methyl isobutyl ketone) system: Experimental data and correlation

Abstract The effects of NaCl, KCl and Na 2 SO 4 on the liquid–liquid equilibrium (LLE) data for the ternary system, water + phenol + methyl isobutyl ketone, were determined at 0.101 MPa and 333.15 K and 343.15 K. The nonrandom two-liquid (NRTL) model was used to correlate the experimental data and to yield corresponding binary interaction parameters for these salt containing systems. The Hand and Othmer–Tobias equations were used to confirm the dependability of the determined LLE data in this work. Distribution coefficient and selectivity were used to evaluate the extraction performance of methyl isobutyl ketone with the existence of salt. The magnitude of salt effect on the water + phenol + methyl isobutyl ketone (MIBK) system is in the following order: Na 2 SO 4  > NaCl > KCl.