Abstract—Liquid- liquid countercurrent extraction of 3% 2,3-butanediol from aqueous solution was carried out using 3-methyl-1-butanol as extracting solvent in presence of 10% sodium carbonate. Study of effect of dispersed phase flow rate and continuous phase flow rate was carried out. Overall mass transfer coefficient was found to increase with dispersed phase flow rate but there is practically no effect of continuous phase flow rate on it. For 3% BD in feed 90% extraction was achieved at solvent to feed ratio of 5, Number of theoretical stages of 1.102 was found to be established during extraction. A run was made using 15% of BD containing 10% sodium carbonate at continuous phase velocity of 0.531 cm/sec and dispersed phase velocity of 2.655 cm/sec corresponding to solvent to feed ratio of 5. Overall mass transfer coefficient of 1.060 X10-3 Sec-1 was obtained corresponding to 94.16% extraction. Number of theoretical stages was found to be 1.292. Hence it is more economical to work with a feed containing up to 15% BD.
Index Terms—2,3-butanediol, butylene glycol, solvent extraction, countercurrent extraction, mass transfer coefficient, 3-methyl -1-butanol.
*Professor, Department of Engineering Chemistry, TIT Group of Institutions, Bhopal(Mobile No.: 9926722552; e-mail: Vish_sadhana@rediffmail.com).
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Cite: Dr. Sadhana Vishwakarma, "Liquid-Liquid Extraction of 2,3-Butanediol: Performance of Packed Extraction Column Using Continuous Countercurrent," International Journal of Chemical Engineering and Applications vol. 1, no. 3, pp. 222-224, 2010.
