Elsevier, Journal of Chemical Thermodynamics, (82), p. 93-98, 2015
DOI: 10.1016/j.jct.2014.11.002
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Two liquid phases were formed as the addition of a certain amount of biological buffer 3-(N-morpholino)propane sulfonic acid (MOPS) in the aqueous solutions of tetrahydrofuran (THF) or 1,3-dioxolane. To evaluate the feasibility of recovering the cyclic ethers from their aqueous solutions with the aid of MOPS, we determined experimentally the phase diagrams of the ternary systems of {cyclic ether (THF or 1,3-dioxolane) + water + MOPS} at T = 298.15 K under atmospheric pressure. In this study, the solubility data of MOPS in water and in the mixed solvents of water/ cyclic ethers were obtained from the results of a series of density measurements, while the liquid-liquid and the solid-liquid-liquid phase boundaries were determined by visually inspection. Additionally, the tie-line results for liquid-liquid equilibrium (LLE) and for solid-liquid-liquid equilibrium (SLLE) were measured using an analytical method. The reliability of the experimental LLE tie-line results data was validated by using the Othmer-Tobias correlation. These LLE tie-line values were correlated well with the NRTL model. The phase diagrams obtained from this study reveal that MOPS is a feasible green auxiliary agent to recover the cyclic ethers from their aqueous solutions, especially for 1,3-dioxolane.