Separation of methacrylic acid from aqueous phase using quaternary amine

The feasibility of extractive reaction of methacrylic acid from aqueous solution using a quaternary amine, tri–octyl methyl ammonium chloride (TOMAC) as an extractant, was studied. The diluents chosen in the present work belong to different chemical classes, n–butyl acetate, carbon tetrachloride, isoamyl alcohol, methyl isobutyl ketone, and toluene. The effect of initial acid concentration in the aqueous phase, and initial extractant concentration in the organic phase were studied. The performances of physical and reactive extraction of individual diluents were reported in terms of overall distribution coefficient, overall loading ratios, and stoichiometric loading ratios. Maximum extractability was observed in case of methyl isobutyl ketone, while minimum with carbon tetrachloride. The remarkable feature of linear solvation energy relationship (LSER) modeling is that it takes into account physical interactions. To check the accuracy of the experimental observations, they were correlated with the LSER modeling parameters, and fairly good agreement was observed between them.