Wastewater containing DMF (N,N-dimethylformamide) and salt is generated
in production of many chemicals
and medicines. The composition of phase equilibrium should be known
primarily for the recovery of DMF from salt-containing wastewater
by solvent extraction. In this study, liquid–liquid equilibrium
(LLE) and solubility data of water + DMF + chloroform in the presence
of NaCl with various concentrations of 0, 2.5, 5.0, 7.5, 10.0, and
13.3 wt % and Na2SO4 with concentrations of
1.5 and 2.5 wt % were determined at T = 298.2 K and
atmospheric pressure. Besides, the salt effect on the LLE data was
investigated. Compared with the salt-free system, the salt led to
an enhancement in the maximum DMF distribution coefficient by 13.4–102.6%
for 2.5–13.3 wt % NaCl and 16.2–31.7% for 1.5–2.5
wt % Na2SO4, respectively. Since the distribution
coefficient of water increased concurrently, the separation factor
barely changed and the two-phase region expanded outward slightly.
At the same salt mass fraction, the order of salting-out effect strength
on extraction was Na2SO4 > NaCl, which was
in
good agreement with the Hofmeister series. The reliability of the
experimental values was verified through the Eisen–Joffe equation.
The NRTL thermodynamic model was applied to correlate the experimental
data with a root-mean-square deviation less than 0.0062. The coherent
consistency of the model parameters for the salt-free system was checked
by topological analysis based on the Gibbs tangent plane test.