Temperature dependence of industrial propylene glycol alkyl ether/water mixtures

Abstract

The miscibility of ten industrially used propylene glycol ethers with water is studied in the temperature range between 0 and 80 degreesC. Several of these systems show a lower critical point of demixing near room temperature. The shapes of the phase diagrams are discussed in detail and compared to those of the widely used but potentially toxic ethylene glycol alkyl ether/water mixtures. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.