Activated solvent activity coefficients

In a binary liquid solution containing one noncondensable and one condensable component, it is customary to refer to the first as the solute and to the second as the solvent. Equation (13) is used for the normalization of the solvent s activity coefficient but Equation (14) is used for the solute. Since the normalizations for the two components are not the same, they are said to follow the unsymmetric convention. The standard-state fugacity of the solvent is the fugacity of the pure liquid. The standard-state fugacity of the solute is Henry s constant. 

When a condensable solute is present, the activity coefficient of a solvent is given by Equation (15) provided that all composition variables (x, 9, and ) are taicen on an (all) solute-free basis. Composition variables 9 and 4 are automatically on a solute-free basis by setting q = q = r = 0 for every solute. 

A quite different approach was adopted by Robinson and Stokes [8], who emphasized, as above, that if the solute dissociated into ions, and a total of h molecules of water are required to solvate these ions, then the real concentration of the ions should be corrected to reflect only the bulk solvent. Robinson and Stokes derive, with these ideas, the following expression for the activity coefficient ... 

Investigations of the solubilities of aromatic compounds in concentrated and aqueous sulphuric acids showed the activity coefficients of nitrocompounds to behave unusually when the nitro-compound was dissolved in acid much more dilute than required to effect protonation. This behaviour is thought to arise from changes in the hydrogenbonding of the nitro group with the solvent. 

Considering first pure nitric acid as the solvent, if the concentrations of nitronium ion in the absence and presence of a stoichiometric concentration x of dinitrogen tetroxide are yo and y respectively, these will also represent the concentrations of water in the two solutions, and the concentrations of nitrate ion will be y and x- y respectively. The equilibrium law, assuming that the variation of activity coefficients is negligible, then requires that ... 

The stabiHty criteria for ternary and more complex systems may be obtained from a detailed analysis involving chemical potentials (23). The activity of each component is the same in the two Hquid phases at equiHbrium, but in general the equiHbrium mole fractions are greatiy different because of the different activity coefficients. The distribution coefficient m based on mole fractions, of a consolute component C between solvents B and A can thus be expressed... 

If the mutual solubilities of the solvents A and B are small, and the systems are dilute in C, the ratio ni can be estimated from the activity coefficients at infinite dilution. The infinite dilution activity coefficients of many organic systems have been correlated in terms of stmctural contributions (24), a method recommended by others (5). In the more general case of nondilute systems where there is significant mutual solubiUty between the two solvents, regular solution theory must be appHed. Several methods of correlation and prediction have been reviewed (23). The universal quasichemical (UNIQUAC) equation has been recommended (25), which uses binary parameters to predict multicomponent equihbria (see Eengineering, chemical DATA correlation). 

The activity of any ion, a = 7m, where y is the activity coefficient and m is the molaHty (mol solute/kg solvent). Because it is not possible to measure individual ionic activities, a mean ionic activity coefficient, 7, is used to define the activities of all ions in a solution. The convention used in most of the Hterature to report the mean ionic activity coefficients for sulfuric acid is based on the assumption that the acid dissociates completely into hydrogen and sulfate ions. This assumption leads to the foUowing formula for the activity of sulfuric acid. 

Because extractive solvents work by altering the relative volatihty between the components to be distilled, a good solvent causes a substantial change in relative volatihty when present at moderate compositions. As seen from equation 3, the solvent modifies the relative volatihties by affecting the ratio of the hquid-phase activity coefficients yWhereas it is possible to find solvents which increase or decrease this ratio, it is usually preferable to select a solvent which accentuates the natural difference in vapor pressures between the components to be separated that is, a solvent that increases relative to when is favored, over one that increases relative to y. In the latter case, adding small amounts of the solvent actually makes the separation... 

Extractive distillation works by the exploitation of the selective solvent-induced enhancements or moderations of the liquid-phase nonidealities of the components to be separated. The solvent selectively alters the activity coefficients of the components being separated. To do this, a high concentration of solvent is necessaiy. Several features are essential ... 

In normal applications of extractive distillation (i.e., pinched, closeboiling, or azeotropic systems), the relative volatilities between the light and heavy key components will be unity or close to unity. Assuming an ideal vapor phase and subcritical components, the relative volatility between the light and heavy keys of the desired separation can be written as the produc t of the ratios of the pure-component vapor pressures and activity-coefficient ratios whether the solvent is present or not ... 

Since activity coefficients have a strong dependence on composition, the effect of the solvent on the activity coefficients is generally more pronounced. However, the magnitude and direc tion of change is highly dependent on the solvent concentration, as well as the liquid-phase interactions between the key components and the solvent. The solvent acts to lessen the nonideahties of the key component whose liquid-phase behavior is similar to the solvent, while enhancing the nonideal behavior of the dissimilar key. 

The solvent and the key component that show most similar liquid-phase behavior tend to exhibit little molecular interactions. These components form an ideal or nearly ideal liquid solution. The ac tivity coefficient of this key approaches unity, or may even show negative deviations from Raoult s law if solvating or complexing interactions occur. On the other hand, the dissimilar key and the solvent demonstrate unfavorable molecular interactions, and the activity coefficient of this key increases. The positive deviations from Raoult s law are further enhanced by the diluting effect of the high-solvent concentration, and the value of the activity coefficient of this key may approach the infinite dilution value, often aveiy large number. 

The effect of solvent concentration on the activity coefficients of the key components is shown in Fig. 13-72 for the system methanol-acetone with either water or methylisopropylketone (MIPK) as solvent. For an initial-feed mixture of 50 mol % methanol and 50 mol % acetone (no solvent present), the ratio of activity coefficients of methanol and acetone is close to unity. With water as the solvent, the activity coefficient of the similar key (methanol) rises slightly as the solvent concentration increases, while the coefficient of acetone approaches the relatively large infinite-dilution value. With methylisopropylketone as the solvent, acetone is the similar key and its activity coefficient drops toward unity as the solvent concentration increases, while the activity coefficient of the methanol increases. 

FIG. 13-72 Effect of solvent concentration on activity coefficients for acetone-methanol system, (a) water solvent, (h) MIPK solvent. 

Panagiotopoulos et al. [16] studied only a few ideal LJ mixtures, since their main objective was only to demonstrate the accuracy of the method. Murad et al. [17] have recently studied a wide range of ideal and nonideal LJ mixtures, and compared results obtained for osmotic pressure with the van t Hoff [17a] and other equations. Results for a wide range of other properties such as solvent exchange, chemical potentials and activity coefficients [18] were compared with the van der Waals 1 (vdWl) fluid approximation [19]. The vdWl theory replaces the mixture by one fictitious pure liquid with judiciously chosen potential parameters. It is defined for potentials with only two parameters, see Ref. 19. A summary of their most important conclusions include ... 

By combining these ions with other counterions, single ion transfer activity coefficients are calculated. By these techniques transfer free energies or activity coefficients have been determined for many ions and nonelectrolytes in a wide variety of solvents.Parker has discussed the extrathermodynamic assumptions that lead to single ion quantities. 

Table 8-8 gives some nonelectrolyte transfer free energies, and Table 8-9 lists single ion transfer activity coefficients. Note especially the remarkable values for anions in dipolar aprotic solvents, indicating extensive desolvation in these solvents relative to methanol. This is consistent with the enhanced nucleophilic reactivity of anions in dipolar aprotic solvents. Parker and Blandamer have considered transfer activity coefficients for binary aqueous mixtures. 

Select now a second neutral indicator base C that is weaker than B by roughly an order of magnitude thus, a solvent can be found of such acidity that a significant fraction of both B and C will be protonated, but this will no longer be a dilute aqueous solution, so the individual activity coefficients will in general deviate from unity. For this solution containing low concentrations of both B and C,... 

Another method to determine infinite dilution activity coefficients (or the equivalent FFenry s law coefficients) is gas chromatography [FF, F2]. In this method, the chromatographic column is coated with the liquid solvent (e.g., the IL). The solute (the gas) is introduced with a carrier gas and the retention time of the solute is a measure of the strength of interaction (i.e., the infinite dilution activity coefficient, y7) of the solute in the liquid. For the steady-state method, given by [FF, F2] ... 

Examples of Values of L and AF°. As a first example we may evaluate both L and AF° for a moderately soluble salt in aqueous solution. At 25° a saturated solution of potassium perchlorate has a concentration of 0.148 mole of KCIO4 in a 1000 grams of water that is to say, y+ = y = 0.148/55.5. The activity coefficient in the saturated solution has been taken1 to be 0.70 + 0.05. Using this value, we can estimate the work required to take a pair of ions from the crystal surface to mutually distant points, when the crystal is in contact with pure solvent at 25°C ... 

In Chapter 7 we found it convenient to distinguish between proton transfers involving a solvent molecule and those involving only solute particles but this difference will lose its significance when the distinction between solvent and solute begins to break down. We recall that in Sec. 54 the mole fraction of the solvent did not differ appreciably from unity and could be omitted from (72). In investigating concentrated solutions, however, there is no question of extrapolating to infinite dilution the mole fraction of the solvent will differ from unity and will have to be retained in all formulas. At the same time each of the mole fractions will need to be multiplied by its activity coefficient. 

The pH will depend upon the ionic strength of the solution (which is, of course, related to the activity coefficient — see Section 2.5). Hence, when making a colour comparison for the determination of the pH of a solution, not only must the indicator concentration be the same in the two solutions but the ionic strength must also be equal or approximately equal. The equation incidentally provides an explanation of the so-called salt and solvent effects which are observed with indicators. The colour-change equilibrium at any particular ionic strength (constant activity-coefficient term) can be expressed by a condensed form of equation (4) ... 

The difficulties engendered by a hypothetical liquid standard state can be eliminated by the use of unsymmetrically normalized activity coefficients. These have been used for many years in other areas of solution thermodynamics (e.g., for solutions of electrolytes or polymers in liquid solvents) but they have only recently been employed in high-pressure vapor-liquid equilibria (P7). 

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