Reactive Extraction of Caproic Acid using Tri-n- Butyl Phosphate (TBP) in Non Toxic Diluents Ashwani Kumar Rathore 1 , Deepak Srivastava 2 , Kailas L Wasewar 3 , and Diwakar Z Shende 3 * 1 Department of Chemical Engineering, School of Chemical Technology, H B Technical University (Formerly H B Technological Institute), Kanpur, India. 2 Department of Plastic Technology, School of Chemical Technology, H B Technical University (Formerly H B Technological Institute), Kanpur, India 3 Department of Chemical Engineering, VNIT Nagpur, India. Abstract : The present paper deals with the study of reactive extraction of caproic acid using tri-n-butyl phosphate in non-toxic diluents (oils obtain from sunflower, soybean, and rice bran) in different proportions and combinations of extractant and the non-toxic diluents. Results were presented in terms of distribution coefficients, loading ratio, degree of extraction, equilibrium complexation constants and the kinetics of reaction involved. The data obtained were found to be useful for process engineers to efficiently design reactive extraction process for the recovery of caproic acid by thorough understanding of the equilibrium characteristics. Also, the problem of toxicity in reactive extraction could be reduced by using the natural non-toxic diluents with the extractant. Keywords : Reactive extraction, TBP, Nontoxic diluent, Caproicacid, Toxicity, batch process. Introduction Reactive extraction is a showing a lot of promise for the recovery of carboxylic acid with respect to other processes such as distillation(not suitable for low concentration), electro dialysis (high cost of membrane and fouling)and other conventional precipitation processes( by product disposal). The success stories of reactive extraction has been increasing in the recovery of carboxylic acids from dilute solutions or fermentation broths but toxicity problems of the diluents and extractants employed is hampering its wider acceptability. Therefore, it is felt study various combinations of non-toxic diluents and extractants or by using less toxic extractants in a non-toxic diluents(oils) that can recover the acid efficiently and ineco friendly manner 1-7 . Caproic acid, technically known as n-hexanoic acid {CH 3 (CH 2 ) 4 COOH} is a member of fatty acids series and is often found in oils and fats of animals 8 . It is widely used in organic synthesis, pharmaceuticals and perfumes, medicine, lubrication, grease, dye, latex, plastics, rubbersand flavorings. It has pungent smell and is Diwakar Z Shende et al /International Journal of ChemTech Research, 2018,11(07): 56-62. DOI= http://dx.doi.org/10.20902/IJCTR.2018.110707 International Journal of ChemTech Research CODEN (USA): IJCRGG, ISSN: 0974-4290, ISSN(Online):2455-9555 Vol.11 No.07, pp 56-62, 2018