The dispersion of noncolloidal barium titanate and alpha-alumina powders in an azeotropic ethanol/butanone mixture, using an amphiphilic ester phosphate as dispersant, has been investigated by a variety of techniques, We show that residual water plays an important role in the dispersant adsorption process and in the dispersion mechanism, We also show that the dispersion stability (sedimentation) and its theology are well correlated to each other and to the amount of adsorbed dispersant, and can be rationalized in terms of an effective volume fraction which takes into account the envelope volume of the agglomerates.