Effect of hydrotropes on solubility and mass transfer coefficient of amyl acetate

Abstract

 This paper presents a comprehensive study on the effect of citric acid, sodium benzoate, sodium salicylate and urea (hydrotropes) on the solubility and mass transfer coefficient for the extraction of amyl acetate in water. The influence of a wide range of hydrotrope concentration (0–3.0 mol/l) and different temperatures (303–333 K) on the solubility of amyl acetate has been studied. The influence of different hydrotrope concentrations on the mass transfer coefficients for amyl acetate–water system has been ascertained. Setschenow constant, K_s, a measure of the effectiveness of hydrotrope has been determined for each case. The solubility of amyl acetate increases with increase in hydrotrope concentration and also with system temperature. Consequent to the increase in the solubility of amyl acetate, the mass transfer coefficient was also found to increase with increase in hydrotrope concentration. A Minimum Hydrotropic Concentration (MHC) was found essential to show a significant increase in the solubility and mass transfer coefficient for amyl acetate–water system. The enhancement factor, which is the ratio of value in presence and absence of a hydrotrope is reported for both solubility and mass transfer coefficients.