Influence of Salts on the Partitioning of 5-Hydroxymethylfurfural in Water/MIBK

This study investigates the influence of electrolytes on the performance of extracting 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) from aqueous media using methyl isobutyl ketone (MIBK). For that purpose, liquid-liquid phase equilibria (LLE) of quaternary systems containing HMF, water, MIBK and salts were measured at atmospheric pressure and 298.15 K. The salts under investigation were composed of one of the anions NO(3-), SO4(2-), Cl(-), or CH3COO(-) and of one of the alkali cations Li(+), Na(+), or K(+). On the basis of these LLE data, the partition coefficient of HMF between the aqueous and the MIBK phase KHMF was determined. It could be shown that KHMF significantly depends on the kind and concentration of the added salt. Weak electrolytes (e.g., sulfates, acetates) caused salting-out, whereas nitrates caused salting-in of HMF to the aqueous phase. Unexpectedly, LiCl caused salting-out at low LiCl concentrations and salting-in at LiCl concentrations higher than 3 mol/kgH2O. The model electrolyte perturbed-chain SAFT (ePC-SAFT) was used to predict the salt influence on the LLE in the quaternary systems water/MIBK/HMF/salt in good agreement with the experimental data. On the basis of ePC-SAFT, it could be concluded that the different salting-out/salting-in behavior of the various salts is mainly caused by their different tendency to form ion pairs in aqueous solutions.