Extracting n-Butanol Dissolved in Water

[JohnHunyadi21]

Hello,

Does anyone know of an easy means of removing dissolved butyl alcohol from water? (The boiling point of butanol is ~117 deg. C; the butanol composes ~2% of the solution).

Regards.

[Indiescience]

I'd suggest adding a large amount of salt to the water, and extracting the butanol with diethyl ether or dichloromethane. It should get salted out, as IPA does, and would be more non-polar then polar, so those solvents should work well.

Purify it by evaporating the ether or DCM, they have much lower boiling points.

[KathChem82]

here's one application of ionic liquids for a much more efficient extraction of butyl alcohol from water.

http://www.google.com.ph/url?sa=t&so...nrq6xFTQ6Pjo3A