2-Propanol-water ternary azeotropes

The esterification with propanols raises the problem of breaking the azeotrope that the alcohol forms with water. The solution of this problem passes by the use of an entrainer forming a heterogeneous ternary azeotrope. Suitable entrainers are hydrocarbons and oxygenated species, as esters and ethers. The solution is in principle similar for u-propanol with the notable difference that the reaction rate is much slower for the last when using the same catalyst. 

Table 19 also indicates some methods of decreasing the interfacial tension between water and heptane. The addition of a small amount of surfactant makes a significant difference. Similarly, ternary azeotropes formed by the addition of small amounts of n-propanol, butoxyethylene glycol, or other polar organics, also produce catalysts with high pore volumes, because the second organic, which contains both lipophilic and hydrophilic entities, can lower the interfacial tension between water and heptane. Some examples of this approach are also shown in Table 19. 

Isopropyl alcohol [67-63-0] (2-propanol, isopropanol) is a colorless liquid that is miscible in all proportions with water and with commonly used organic solvents. It forms binary and ternary azeotropes with water and many organic solvents. 

Table 16.4 Ternary azeotropes containing n-propanol and water which form two liquid phases on condensing...

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