Novel aqueous biphasic system based on ethyl lactate for sustainable separations: Phase splitting mechanism

Abstract

Ethyl lactate is a hydrophilic green solvent which is bio-renewable and biodegradable with low toxicity towards humans and animals. For the first time, we report that aqueous solutions of ethyl lactate separate into two aqueous phases upon addition of salts. The performance of trisodium citrate, disodium tartrate and disodium succinate as salting-out media for the separation of natural organic compounds, such as caffeine and catechin, from their aqueous solutions was examined. In this respect, cloud points for the ternary solutions composed of ethyl lactate, water and salt were determined at ambient pressure (0.1 MPa) at 298.2 K. Partition coefficients of caffeine and catechin between two phases were determined by chemical analysis of phases in equilibrium for different initial compositions at 298.2 K. The obtained results clearly demonstrate the ability of the ternary mixture to phase separate, providing good salting-out media for the efficient and sustainable separation from aqueous solution. 1H NMR spectroscopy was employed to elucidate the mechanisms of phase splitting in the ternary (ethyl lactate + water + salt) systems at molecular level. The discovery of aqueous biphasic system (ABS) containing ethyl lactate as hydrophilic solvent opens a new and green platform for extraction of various compounds from aqueous solutions.

Publication DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molliq.2018.03.119
Divisions: College of Engineering & Physical Sciences > School of Infrastructure and Sustainable Engineering > Chemical Engineering & Applied Chemistry
College of Engineering & Physical Sciences
Additional Information: © 2018, Elsevier. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Publication ISSN: 1873-3166
Last Modified: 11 Mar 2024 08:30
Date Deposited: 31 Oct 2019 13:03
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Related URLs: https://www.sci ... 8221?via%3Dihub (Publisher URL)
PURE Output Type: Article
Published Date: 2018-07-15
Published Online Date: 2018-04-05
Accepted Date: 2018-03-28
Authors: Kamalanathan, Ishara
Petrovski, Zeljko
Branco, Luis C.
Najdanovic-Visak, Vesna (ORCID Profile 0000-0002-1035-0982)

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