The potential of the polar solvent, furfuryl alcohol, as a solvent in the separation of aromatics from aliphatics and other hydrocarbons, has been investigated by measuring activity coefficients at infinite dilution. The activity coefficients at infinite dilution for some alkanes, cycloalkanes, alkenes, alkynes and benzene in furfuryl alcohol have been determined by g.l.c. at T=(278.15 and 298.15) K. The method used is we believe, a more controlled and reliable method than the alternative pre-saturation method. The results have been used to calculate the selectivity factor and hence predict the potential for furfuryl alcohol as a solvent in separating aromatic compounds from aliphatic compounds and other hydrocarbons using extractive distillation. The results have been compared to the recently published work on a related polar solvent-furfural. The excess enthalpies of mixing at infinite dilution have also been calculated. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.