LIQUID-LIQUID EQUILIBRIA FOR THE OLEIC ACID-BETA-SITOSTEROL WATER-SYSTEM AT ELEVATED-TEMPERATURES AND PRESSURES

Compressed liquid water at elevated temperatures is being evaluated as an extractive solvent for separating mixtures of oleochemicals. In th is paper, results are presented for a model of the tall oil-water syst em, namely, the ternary system oleic acid-beta-sitosterol-water. A con tinuous-flow apparatus was used to measure liquid-liquid equilibrium c ompositions for this system at 572, 579, and 586 K. Selectivities of w ater for oleic acid relative to beta-sitosterol were found to be 10-15 , and distribution coefficients of oleic acid ranged from 0.0063 to 0. 048 for the temperatures investigated. The experimental data were corr elated with the NRTL equation. Limited data are also presented for the oleic acid-dehydroabietic acid-water system.