The process of recovery by liquid-liquid extraction of ethanol manufactured in a fermentation process could be improved by using solvents as 1-dodecanol that have a good separation factor. In this work, liquid-liquid equilibrium data for the ternary system water-ethanol-1-dodecanol have been determined experimentally at 5, 8, 15, 23 and 30 degrees C. The results show different shapes of the equilibrium diagrams depending on the temperature. A region with three phases (liquid-liquid-solid) appears in the temperature range between 8 and 23 degrees C. The lowest temperature at which a water-ethanol-dodecanol mixture cannot be split in two liquid phases has been determined as 8 degrees C. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.