Experimental Determination and Modeling of Liquid–Liquid Equilibrium for Ternary Mixtures of Ethylene Glycol + 1,2-Butanediol + 3-Heptanone or Anisole

Experimental liquid–liquid equilibrium (LLE) data for the system ethylene glycol (EG) + 1,2-butanediol (1,2-BD) + 3-heptanone were measured at atmospheric pressure at 293.15, 303.15, and 313.15 K and the ternary LLE for systems of EG + 1,2-BD + anisole were also investigated at 303.15 K at 101.3 KPa by using liquid–liquid equilibrium kettle method. Distribution coefficient and selectivity were obtained and applied to evaluate the extraction capacity of 3-heptanone and anisole. The reliability of the experimental data was confirmed by the Hand correlation and the Othmer–Tobias correlation. The experimental LLE data were correlated by NRTL and UNIQUAC models, and the corresponding parameters were obtained. The root-mean-square deviations (RMSD) between the experimental data and calculated values were less than 1.22%. Topological concepts related to the Gibbs stability test were used to validate the consistency between model parameters and experimental data. The liquid–liquid equilibrium data provide the basic physicochemical properties for design of extraction process of 1,2-BD from EG by 3-heptanone and anisole. According to comprehensive correlation coefficient analysis, 3-heptanone is more suitable for the extraction of 1,2-BD from EG than anisole.