Isobaric vapor−liquid equilibria (VLE) data of the ternary system methanol + ethanenitrile +1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium bis-(trifluoromethylsulfonyl) imide ([EMIM][NTf 2 ]) and methanol + ethanenitrile +1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl) imide ([BMIM]-[NTf 2 ]) as well as their binary system methanol + ethanenitrile (MeCN) were obtained using a improved Othmer still at 101.3 kPa. Results indicated that the addition of [EMIM][NTf 2 ] or [BMIM][NTf 2 ] can eliminate the azeotropic phenomenon of the binary system of methanol + MeCN when the mole fraction of the ionic liquids reach 0.05. Besides, the measured ternary data were well fitted with the nonrandom two-liquid model.
■ INTRODUCTIONWith increasing environmental concerns, it is necessary to separate the solvent mixtures in order to reuse them. 1 However, most of the solvents are azeotropic or close-boiling mixtures. Thus, we could not purify those solvents to the index of requirement only using some simple distillations. Several special distillation techniques have been proposed to solve this difficulty. And in those techniques, the extractive distillation is widely used in industry. 2,3 Because of the unique properties of the ionic liquid (IL)extremely low volatility, high thermal and chemical stabilities and is liquid at room temperature, for examplethe ILs have some advantages over traditional entrainer. 4 So, the isobaric VLE data containing ILs are necessary for the extractive distillation research and the process design.Ethanenitrile and methanol are extremely important solvents and cosolvents in electrochemistry, high-performance liquid chromatography and spectroscopy. Both of them have been widely used as fine chemicals in chemical and pharmaceutical process. 5−7 Industrial synthesis of ethanenitrile contains considerable amounts of impurities which is unsuitable in many applications that require high purity. In order to remove those impurities, methanol has been added as a separating agent. 8 This procedure creates a mixture of methanol and ethanenitrile. Furthermore, several chemical industries processes also bring some mixtures of them. However, methanol and ethanenitrile form an azeotrope whose separation is very difficult. As far as we know, there is no isobaric VLE data of methanol + MeCN + IL ternary system.In this study, the isobaric VLE data of methanol + MeCN binary system and their ternary system containing [EMIM]-[NTf 2 ] or [BMIM][NTf 2 ] were measured at 101.3 kPa. And we also discussed the influence of [EMIM][NTf 2 ] and [BMIM][NTf 2 ] on the VLE data of methanol + MeCN system. ■ EXPERIMENT Reagents. The solvents used were methanol, ethanenitrile, [EMIM][NTf 2 ], and [BMIM][NTf 2 ]. Methanol was obtained from Beijing Chemical Works, China. Ethanenitrile was obtained by Tianjin Fuchen Chemical Reagents Factory, China. The purities of both chemicals were above 99.5% (weight ratio) checked by gas chromatography. The ILs ([EMIM][NTf 2 ] and [BMIM][NTf 2 ]) were purchase from Shanghai Chengjie Chemical Reagents Factory ...