Distribution of TX114 between coacervate and aqueous phases in clouding of various initial TX114 concentrations was studied. Effects of temperature and salinity （Na2SO4） on the distribution of TX114 concentration were also investigated. Differing from the nonionic surfactant C12E10, the distribution of TX114 is sensitive to the temperature, and it is observed that the TX114 concentration in the aqueous phase （Caq） does not depend on the initial TX114 concentration apparently at 45℃, and the Caq decreases with an increase of NazSO4 concentration. Low initial TX114 concentration in unclouded solutions, high Na2SO4 concentration, and temperature are suggested to control the surfactant loss in large-scale cloud point extraction applications.
Phase separation behavior of cocamidopropyl betaine/water/polyethylene glycol （PEG） system was studied. The effects of concentration and molecular weight of PEG on the phase separation behavior were investigated. Clouding occurred when the concentration of PEG was large enough in the betaine aqueous solution, and the concentration of PEG at cloud point decreased with the increase of PEG molecular weight for a constant betaine concentration. The bottom phase was the PEG-rich phase, and the upper phase was the betaine-rich phase. The volumetric ratio of PEG-rich phase to betaine-rich phase, at the same difference between the PEG concentration and the one at the cloud poim, △Ccp （0.1 g.ml^-1）, decreased as the PEG molecular weight increased and approached 1 for higher PEG molecular Weiglai （about 20000）, which was similar to the typicai-aqueous two-phase system. This volumetric ratio depended on the initial PEG concentration, but independent of PEG molecular weight. The concentration ratio of betaine to PEG in both phases depended on the △Ccp independent of PEG molecular weight.
Cloud point extraction(CPE) utilizing non-ionic surfactant TX114 was carried out to separate and concentrate di(2-ethyl hexyl) phosphoric acid(D2EHPA) in its dilute aqueous solution.The CPE process was facilitated at 45℃.The influence of TX114 concentration,D2EHPA concentration and solution acidity on the extraction efficiency was studied.The results showed that extraction efficiency increased with decreasing TX114 concentration and increasing D2EHPA concentration.Such unusual extraction behavior might be the result of the reverse-micelle coacervate phase,solublizing D2EHPA on the surface of micelle,and the influence of D2EHPA on the cloud point of TX114.
