Separating ethanol from the aqueous fermentation mixture is often achieved through energy intensive distillation, however, solvent extraction can be a plausible low energy alternative. In this work, the ternary liquid/liquid equilibrium of castor oil/water/ethanol mixtures, stabilized by cellulose/Fe3O4 and lignin/Fe3O4 nanoparticles, was developed for the liquid/liquid extraction of ethanol from water using the castor oil. Cellulose/Fe3O4 nanoparticles were synthesized in-house by the co-precipitation of iron chloride salts by ammonium hydroxide in the presence of cellulose nanocrystals . Lignin/Fe3O4 nanoparticles were assembled using a simple pH driven separation technique. At first, a ternary diagram of castor oil/water/ethanol mixtures was developed without nanoparticles. The mixtures were prepared at varied oil, water, and ethanol concentrations using a homogenizer. The mixtures were left for 48 hours to reach the equilibrium and the aqueous phase and the organic phase were separated using a centrifuge. The equilibrium concentrations of each component in the aqueous phase and the organic phase were measured by HPLC. The ternary diagram was constructed using the equilibrium concentrations. To advance the fundamental knowledge of the effect of magnetic nanoparticles on the ternary liquid/liquid equilibrium, the ternary diagrams of castor oil/water/ethanol were also prepared using the same castor oil, water and ethanol concentrations as before with added cellulose/Fe3O4 and lignin/Fe3O4 nanoparticles in the mixtures. The method was the same except for filtration of nanoparticles before the HPLC measurements. The effect of the nanoparticles was directly compared with the ternary diagram developed without NPs. This work will help to determine the maximum separation efficiency of the extraction of ethanol from water using the castor oil and potential ethanol adsorption onto the hybrid nanoparticles.

Effect of cellulose/Fe3O4 and lignin/ Fe3O4 nanoparticles on the ternary liquid/liquid equilibrium of castor oil/water/ethanol mixtures

ACS Spring 2022

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.