Experimental Data and Thermodynamic Modeling of Fructose Solubility in Glycerol

Extractive distillation is widely used in industries such as anhydrous ethanol manufacturing. History shows several problems related to separation agents, such as chloroform, cyclohexane, ethyl ether, carbon tetrachloride, and ethylene acetate. Environmental agencies have restricted the use of several solvents. There is an opening for research into less toxic and more effective dehydrating agents. Both glycerol and fructose are potential separation agents; glycerol has not proven viable for commercial operation to date, and fructose, despite its potential demonstrated in the literature, has the limitation of adding a solid to the top of a distillation column. Hence, glycerol is intended to add fructose to the extractive distillation column, which makes it necessary to know the solubility of fructose in glycerol. This work addresses new experimental data on fructose solubility in glycerol for temperatures ranging from (308.15 to 351.15) K, together with a fit with Nývlt Equation and thermodynamic modeling of the equilibrium, which are essential for predicting the quaternary equilibrium of water, ethanol, fructose, and glycerol. The study of extractive distillation for producing anhydrous ethanol using glycerol and fructose as extracting agents has great potential for application in the industry, as demonstrated by the studies carried out so far.