Simulation studies of Extractive Distillation for separating the Isoamyl acetate/Isoamyl alcohol Binary Azeotrope Mixture using N-octyl actetate green solvent

Abstract

Isoamyl acetate, also known as banana oil, is a versatile compound with wide-ranging applications in diverse industries, including food, paint, pharmaceuticals, textiles, and essence production. However, its synthesis poses a challenge due to the formation of an azeotrope with Isoamyl alcohol under atmospheric pressure. To separate azeotropes effectively, reduce waste, reuse resources, and maintain environmental cleanliness and sustainability, the industry uses extractive distillation. The primary focus of this study was to apply extractive distillation to separate binary azeotropic systems involving Isoamyl acetate and Isoamyl alcohol, with the use of N-Octyl acetate as the designated solvent. The process characteristics were simulated using CHEMCAD simulator with the UNIFAC thermodynamic model, followed by sensitivity analysis to optimize the flow sheets. To achieve the optimized design of the extractive distillation column, the impact of solvent flow rate, reflux ratio, feed stage, and solvent feed stage were investigated.