Viscosities and densities of systems involved in the deterpenation of essential oils by liquid-liquid extraction: New UNIFAC-VISCO parameters

• Physical properties of systems from deterpenation of essential oils were measured.
• Viscosities were used to get new interaction parameters for the UNIFAC-VISCO model.
• Parameters were optimized using a genetic algorithm.
• A global average relative deviation of 0.68% was obtained considering all systems.
• New parameters also presented a good predictive capability, with a ARD of 1.83%.

This work reports viscosities and densities, at T = 298.15 K, of the phases formed after deterpenation of bergamot, lemon and mint essential oils, by (liquid + liquid) extraction (LLE). Samples of mixtures containing the main components of each essential oil (terpenes and oxygenated compounds), plus ethanol and water, were obtained from studies of phase equilibrium performed previously by our research group. Experimental viscosities were also correlated to the UNIFAC VISCO model, based on the group contribution method. Correlations were accomplished using two approaches: in the first one, functional groups already described by previous studies in the literature and new ones obtained in this work were considered, providing a global average relative deviation (ARD) equal to 1.70%; in a second approach, all functional groups were fitted to our experimental data, which provided a global average relative deviation equal to 0.68%. The predictive capability of the UNIFAC-VISCO were tested for systems involved in the deterpenation of eucalyptus essential oil, giving ARD values of (3.56 and 1.83)%, for parameters from first and second approach, respectively. These results indicate that, for more accurate calculation of viscosities, it is important to consider the particularities and the complexity of each system.

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