J. Chem. zyxwvuts Eng. Data zyxwv 1993,38, 589-590 589 Equilibrium for the Ternary System Water zyxw + Sodium Chloride + Ethyl Acetate at 30 "C Vicente Gomis,' Francisco Ruiz, Antonio Marcilla, and Maria del Carmen Pascual Departamento de Ingenierfa Qufmica, Universidad de Alicante, Apartado 99, Alicante, Spain Liquid-liquid-solid equilibrium for the ternary system water + sodium chloride + ethyl acetate has been measured at 30 OC. Introduction The decreasein solubility of a nonelectrolytein the presence of inorganic salts (salting out) has potentially wide applica- tions in solvent extraction for obtaining better recovery of organic liquids from aqueous solutions. A survey of the literature, however,indicates that only fragmentary work has been done on such systems zyxwvuts (1-9), with a number of mea- surements zyxwvutsr (1-3) made using an experimentaltechnique which is not considered accurate (10). For instance, in refs 2 and 3, the authors consider the system ethyl acetate + alcohol + (water + salt) zyxwvut as a pseudoternary system and the solution of salt in water as a single component. This concept is, at least in principle, not correct since the distribution of the salt between the aqueous and organic phases is different. Fur- thermore, it is incorrect to consider the system water + salt + ethyl acetate as a pseudobinary mixture. In this work, solid-liquid-liquid equilibrium of the ternary system water + sodium chloride + ethyl acetate at 30 OC was measured. Results for this system have been determined previously (2, 3), but only solubility values were reported, and no experimental tie lines were presented. Our results differ considerably from those reported previously. Experimental Section Materials. All chemicals (Merck) were used as supplied. The contents of volatile impurities were determined by gas- liquid chromatographic analysis: all compounds contained negligible amounts of impurities (less than 0.2% 1. However, the content in water of the ethyl acetate might modify the correct experimental results. Consequently, it has been measuredand considered in each sampleof ethyl acetate used. Experimental Methodology Proposed. A ternary sys- tem, water (W) + inorganic salt (S) + organic solvent (O), containing a partly miscible pair, water + organic solvent, is represented schematically in Figure 1 using an equilateral triangle. To characterize the equilibrium of the ternary system properly, initial mixtures must be selected covering the heterogeneousregion and providing regular variations of composition in each region. For the study on the ternary system selected, ten initial heterogeneous mixtures were prepared six of the mixtures formed two liquid phases, three formed a liquid and a solid phase, and one formed three phases (two liquids and one solid). These compositions covered the phase diagram adequately. Analytical Methods. Equilibrium measurements were made by preparing mixtures of known overall composition by mass, stirring intensively and allowing the mixtures to settle for 2 h at a constant temperature of 30.0 f 0.1 "C. At the end of each experiment, samples were taken from liquid phases and analyzed. OO21-9568/93/ 1738-0589$04.OO/O S w / O Figure 1. Equilateral representation of the ternary system water (W) + inorganic salt (S) + organic solvent (0) with the water + organic solvent partly miscible: (A) liquid A, (B) liquid B, (C) liquid A + liquid B, (D) liquid B + solid, (E) liquid A + solid, (F) liquid A + liquid B + solid. Water in the organic phase was determined by gas chromatography using a 2-m X 3-mm column packed with Chromosorb 101 100/120. The column temperature was 150 OC, and detection was carried out by thermal conductivity. The helium flow rate was 30 cm3 min-l. To obtain quantitative results, an internal standard method was applied, 2-propanol being the standard compound used for this purpose. Fur- thermore, the addition of 2-propanol prevents separation effects. Ethyl acetate in the aqueous phase was determined after dilution by a factor of 10 of the sample with water in order to decrease the problems and interferences produced by the high concentrations of sodium chloride. The analysis was carried out by gas chromatography using a flame ionization detector and the same conditions described above. Sodium chloridein the aqueous phase was determined from the mass of the solid residue obtained by evaporation at 120 "C of a known mass of the sample. For the determination of the sodium chloride in the organic phase an aliquot of the samplewas treated with approximately the same amount of water. The concentration of salt extracted by water (whichaccountsfor all the salt in the originalorganic phase since the distribution ratio of NaCl in the aqueous phase to the NaCl in the organic phase is very high and consequently the amount of sodium chloride remaining in the organic phase after extraction can be neglected) was measured by atomic absorption spectrometry. The sodium 0 1993 American Chemical Society