RECOVERY OF CARBOXYLIC ACIDS FROM AQUEOUS SOLUTIONS BY LIQUID-LIQUID EXTRACTION WITH A TRIISOOCTYLAMINE DILUENT SYSTEM

Tertiary alkylamines in solution with organic diluents are attractive extractants for the recovery of carboxylic acids from dilute aqueous phases. The aim of this study was to investigate the mechanism for extraction of organic acids from water by a long-chain aliphatic tertiary amine. In order to attain this objective, we studied the liquid-liquid equilibria between the triisooctylamine + 1-octanol + n-heptane system as solvent and an aqueous solution of an individual carboxylic acid such as citric, lactic and malic acids. The experiments showed that the partition coefficient for a particular...