Thermophysical properties of lactates

•A thermophysical characterization at room pressure at several temperatures of lactate compounds has been carried out.•The measured properties have been correlated with temperature.•A comparison of the thermophysical behavior of methyl, ethyl and butyl lactate has been carried out.•Properties such as vapour pressure, solubility or ALOGP, have been used to get information about the greener character.

In this work, a thermophysical study of lactates compounds (methyl, ethyl and butyl lactate) has been made to get an idea of the suitability of these chemicals in order to be considered as green. New data about the physicochemical behavior of these chemicals (density, refractive index, speed of sound, viscosity, vapour pressure, static permittivity, surface tension and derived properties such as molar refraction, isentropic compressibility and enthalpy of surface formation) have been measured under atmospheric pressure at temperatures from 278.15 K to 338.15 K, while the vapour pressure was determined over a temperature range from 303.15 K to 378.15 K.