Thermophysical properties of 2,5-dimethylfuran and liquid–liquid equilibria of ternary systems water + 2,5-dimethylfuran + alcohols (1-butanol or 2-butanol or 1-hexanol)

• Thermophysical properties were obtained for the biofuel 2,5-dimethylfuran (DMF).
• Liquid–liquid equilibrium data were determined for the ternary systems water + DMF + alcohols.
• The phase equilibrium data were correlated by the NRTL and UNIQUAC models for the activity coefficient.

Pure liquid properties, such as density, refractive index and dynamic viscosity of 2,5-dimethylfuran (DMF), a promising biofuel obtained from biomass, were determined over the temperature range (288.2–333.2) K. Liquid–liquid equilibrium (LLE) data of ternary systems water + DMF + alcohols (1-butanol or 2-butanol or 1-hexanol) were experimentally investigated at 298.2 K and 313.2 K at atmospheric pressure, using a jacketed glass equilibrium cell, according to a standard methodology. These alcohols are present in the DMF production process from dehydration of HMF in a biphasic reactor. The obtained results show that these alcohols are good solvents for use in DMF production, since large two-phase regions, great immiscibility and high selectivity for DMF were observed for all systems. The experimental ternary liquid–liquid equilibrium data were correlated using the NRTL and UNIQUAC models for the activity coefficient; the experimental nad calculated LLE data were in excellent agreement, with root mean square deviations below 1% for both NRTL and UNIQUAC models. The reliability of the experimental data was ascertained using the Bachman and Othmer–Tobias equations.