Cyclohexanol is an important chemical intermediate in nylon production. A new route, using a cosolvent for cyclohexanol production by direct hydration of cyclohexene in a reactive distillation column, was put forward. Liquid-liquid equilibrium (LLE) data for the ternary system water + 1,4-dioxane + cyclohexanol were investigated experimentally at 1 atm over the temperature range of (313.2-343.2) K. The Othmer-Tobias correlation was used to determine the reliability of the experimental tie-lines. The measured LLE data were compared with the values correlated by the nonrandom two-liquids (NRTL) and improved UNIQUAC models. It was found that both the NRTL and improved UNI-QUAC models could provide good correlation results for this system. The NRTL and UNIQUAC equations were fitted to the experimental data with a root-mean-square deviation (RMSD%) of less than 0.19 and 0.41, respectively. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.