Abstract
The vapor-liquid phase equilibrium (VLE) data for binary systems of m-xylene + ethylbenzene, m-xylene + 1, 2, 4-trichlorobenzene, ethylbenzene + 1, 2, 4-trichlorobenzene and ternary system of m-xylene + ethylbenzene + 1, 2, 4-trichlorobenzene were determined with a modified Rose still at 101.3 kPa, and all the binary data passed the Wisniak’s test, which accorded with the thermodynamic consistency. Three activity coefficient models namely, Wilson, NRTL and UNIQUAC were used to correlate VLE data and get binary interaction parameters, then the ternary VLE data of m-xylene + ethylbenzene + 1, 2, 4-trichlorobenzene were estimated based on these model parameters using Aspen Plus software. The estimation values of the three models agree well with the experimental data. Moreover, the effect of 1, 2, 4-trichlorobenzene was analyzed, and it found to be an effective candidate extractant for the extractive distillation of ethylbenzene from mixed xylenes.