Activity coefficient convention

It is strictly for convenience that certain conventions have been adopted in the choice of a standard-state fugacity. These conventions, in turn, result from two important considerations (a) the necessity for an unambiguous thermodynamic treatment of noncondensable components in liquid solutions, and (b) the relation between activity coefficients given by the Gibbs-Duhem equation. The first of these considerations leads to a normalization for activity coefficients for nonoondensable components which is different from that used for condensable components, and the second leads to the definition and use of adjusted or pressure-independent activity coefficients. These considerations and their consequences are discussed in the following paragraphs. 

For such components, as the composition of the solution approaches that of the pure liquid, the fugacity becomes equal to the mole fraction multiplied by the standard-state fugacity. In this case,the standard-state fugacity for component i is the fugacity of pure liquid i at system temperature T. In many cases all the components in a liquid mixture are condensable and Equation (13) is therefore used for all components in this case, since all components are treated alike, the normalization of activity coefficients is said to follow the symmetric convention. ... 

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. 

The standard-state fugacity of any component must be evaluated at the same temperature as that of the solution, regardless of whether the symmetric or unsymmetric convention is used for activity-coefficient normalization. But what about the pressure At low pressures, the effect of pressure on the thermodynamic properties of condensed phases is negligible and under such con-... 

Equation (16) is a differential equation and applies equally to activity coefficients normalized by the symmetric or unsymme-tric convention. It is only in the integrated form of the Gibbs-Duhem equation that the type of normalization enters as a boundary condition. 

As discussed in Chapter 2, for noncondensable components, the unsymmetric convention is used to normalize activity coefficients. For a noncondensable component i in a multicomponent mixture, we write the fugacity in the liquid phase... 

CONVENTION IS USED TO DERIVE EFFECTIVE ACTIVITY COEFFICIENTS. GAMMA... 

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. 

The solubihty parameter, 5, is a function of temperature, but the difference 6 — 6) is only weaMy dependent on temperature. By convention, both 5 and IV are evaluated at 25°C and are treated as constants independent of both T and P. The activity coefficients given by equation 30 are therefore functions of Hquid composition and temperature, but not of pressure. 

Throughout this section the hydronium ion and hydroxide ion concentrations appear in rate equations. For convenience these are written [H ] and [OH ]. Usually, of course, these quantities have been estimated from a measured pH, so they are conventional activities rather than concentrations. However, our present concern is with the formal analysis of rate equations, and we can conveniently assume that activity coefficients are unity or are at least constant. The basic experimental information is k, the pseudo-first-order rate constant, as a function of pH. Within a senes of such measurements the ionic strength should be held constant. If the pH is maintained constant with a buffer, k should be measured at more than one buffer concentration (but at constant pH) to see if the buffer affects the rate. If such a dependence is observed, the rate constant should be measured at several buffer concentrations and extrapolated to zero buffer to give the correct k for that pH. 

Lithium Carbonate in Aqueous Solution. As an illustration, we shall evaluate the conventional AF° and AS0 for lithium carbonate in aqueous solution. At 25°C the concentration of the saturated solution is 0.169 molal.1 In this solution the molality of the Li+ ion is of course 0.338. The activity coefficient of the Li2CO.t in the saturated solution is not accurately known, but its value is not far from y,at = 0.59. Substituting in (186) we have then... 

The saturated solution of potassium iodate in water at 25°C has a molality equal to 0.43. Taking the activity coefficient y in this saturated solution to be 0.52, find the conventional free energy of solution at 25°C, and calculate in electron-volts per ion pair the value of L for the removal of tho ions K+ and (IOs) into water at 25°C. 

Equations (35) and (36) constitute what is called the unsymmetric convention of normalization, because yt and y g° t0 unity in different ways. The asterisk serves as a reminder that the activity coefficient so designated is normalized in a manner different from the customary one. Separate notation for activity coefficients normalized according to Eq. (36) is psychologically useful because the effect of composition on y is radically different from that on y. 

The standard state given by the unsymmetric convention for normalization has one very important advantage it avoids all arbitrariness about/2°, which is an experimentally accessible quantity the definition off2° given by Eq. (37) assures that the activity coefficient of component 2 is unambiguously defined as well as unambiguously normalized. There is no fundamental arbitrariness about f2° because Hl2p(M) can be determined from experimental measurements. 

In Section HI, we discussed the relation between fugacities and activity coefficients in liquid mixtures, and we emphasized that we have a fundamental choice regarding the way we wish to relate the fugacity of a component to the pressure and composition. This choice follows from the freedom we have in choosing a convention for the normalization of activity coefficients. 

The difficulties encountered in the Chao-Seader correlation can, at least in part, be overcome by the somewhat different formulation recently developed by Chueh (C2, C3). In Chueh s equations, the partial molar volumes in the liquid phase are functions of composition and temperature, as indicated in Section IV further, the unsymmetric convention is used for the normalization of activity coefficients, thereby avoiding all arbitrary extrapolations to find the properties of hypothetical states finally, a flexible two-parameter model is used for describing the effect of composition and temperature on liquid-phase activity coefficients. The flexibility of the model necessarily requires some binary data over a range of composition and temperature to obtain the desired accuracy, especially in the critical region, more binary data are required for Chueh s method than for that of Chao and Seader (Cl). Fortunately, reliable data for high-pressure equilibria are now available for a variety of binary mixtures of nonpolar fluids, mostly hydrocarbons. Chueh s method, therefore, is primarily applicable to equilibrium problems encountered in the petroleum, natural-gas, and related industries. 

In the reference state the activity coefficients are, by definition, unity. The reference state may be that in the limit of infinite dilution, but the more conventional reference state is C° = 1 M. With the -y s = 1,... 

The surface pair activity coefficient equation alternative to conventional activity coefficient models. AICHE J. 2002, 48, 2332-2349. 

It has been emphasized repeatedly that the individual activity coefficients cannot be measured experimentally. However, these values are required for a number of purposes, e.g. for calibration of ion-selective electrodes. Thus, a conventional scale of ionic activities must be defined on the basis of suitably selected standards. In addition, this definition must be consistent with the definition of the conventional activity scale for the oxonium ion, i.e. the definition of the practical pH scale. Similarly, the individual scales for the various ions must be mutually consistent, i.e. they must satisfy the relationship between the experimentally measurable mean activity of the electrolyte and the defined activities of the cation and anion in view of Eq. (1.1.11). Thus, by using galvanic cells without transport, e.g. a sodium-ion-selective glass electrode and a Cl -selective electrode in a NaCl solution, a series of (NaCl) is obtained from which the individual ion activity aNa+ is determined on the basis of the Bates-Guggenheim convention for acr (page 37). Table 6.1 lists three such standard solutions, where pNa = -logflNa+, etc. 

The clay ion-exchange model assumes that the interactions of the various cations in any one clay type can be generalized and that the amount of exchange will be determined by the empirically determined cation-exchange capacity (CEC) of the clays in the injection zone. The aqueous-phase activity coefficients of the cations can be determined from a distribution-of-species code. The clay-phase activity coefficients are derived by assuming that the clay phase behaves as a regular solution and by applying conventional solution theory to the experimental equilibrium data in the literature.1 2 3... 

Writing equation (6) in logarithmic form results in equation (7). Again by convention, the log ionization ratio, log / = log(CfiH+ /Cb), is defined, with the ionized form on top. Equations (6) and (7) are thermodynamically exact the problem with them has always been what to do about the unknown activity coefficient ratio term. The first person to tackle this problem was Hammett,21 22 who defined an acidity function, H0, as in equation (8) ... 

The LFER that results when correlating partitioning in the octanol-water system and the humic substances-water system Implies that the thermodynamics of these two systems are related. Hence, much can be learned about humic substances-water partitioning by first considering partitioning In the simpler octanol-water system. The thermodynamic derivation that follows is based largely on the approach developed by Chlou and coworkers (18-20), Miller et al. (21), and of Karickhoff (J, 22). In the subsequent discussion, we will adopt the pure liquid as the standard state and, therefore, use the Lewls-Randall convention for activity coefficients, l.e., y = 1 if the mole fraction x 1. 

ISEs respond to the activities of ions. To prepare activity standards, the individual activity coefficients of the pertinent ions must be known. However, individual activity coefficients cannot be determined accurately and can only be calculated approximately. For a discussion of conventional activity scales see p. 73-6. 

As already mentioned, in solutions that are not symmetric mixtures it is conventional to treat the solute B (or solutes B, C,...) differently from the treatment accorded to the solvent A. The activity coefficient is still defined as the ratio Ub/xb, but the hmit at which it equals unity is taken as the infinite dilute solution of B in A ... 

Note that in all ion interaction approaches, the equation for mean activity coefficients can be split up to give equations for conventional single ion activity coefficients in mixtures, e.g., Eq. (6.1). The latter are strictly valid only when used in combinations that yield electroneutrality. Thus, while estimating medium effects on standard potentials, a combination of redox equilibria with H " + e 5112(g) is necessary (see Example 3). 

This is a key feature of the system for anyone who wants to understand and rationalize the effects of the microenvironment of a biocatalyst on its activity, its stability, or its specificity. Since for many years the use of thermodynamic activity was recommended for quantifying substrate availability in non-conventional media [17, 18], the replacement of concentrations of species by their thermodynamic activities in liquid non-conventional media requires a knowledge of their activity coefficients (y values). And this point is still far from being straightforward, as (a) values depend on molar ratios of other species present in the medium, and (b) methods used to estimate these values, such as UNI FAC group contribution method [19], are often called into question, and claimed to be sources of inaccuracy [20, 21]. 

The pKa s of protonated benzoic acid and its derivatives are readily measured by conventional spectrophotometric methods. Data for over forty compounds have been obtained by Stewart and Granger34 and Stewart and Yates35 and the results have been summarized by Arnett36. Substituted benzoic acids are well-behaved Hammett bases, with slopes of the logarithm of the ionization ratio plots close to 1.0. But, as explained by Arnett36, this is only true, for benzoic itself t any rate, in its region of protonation. In more dilute acid a sudden sharp change in activity coefficient occurs, which means that the observed... 

The exact definition of the equilibrium constant given by IUPAC requires it to be defined in terms of fugacity coefficients or activity coefficients, in which case it carries no units. This convention is widely used in popular physical chemistry texts, but it is also common to find the equilibrium constant specified in terms of molar concentrations, pressure or molality, in which cases the equilibrium constant will carry appropriate units. 

For the above reasons, the IFCC recommendations on activity coefficients [19] and the measurement of and conventions for reporting sodium and potassium [21] and chlorides [25] by ISEs were developed. At the core of these recommendations is the concept of the adjusted active substance concentration (mmol/L), as well as a traceable way to remove the discrepancy between direct and indirect determinations of these electrolytes in normal sera. Extensive studies of sodium and potassium binding to inorganic ligands and proteins, water binding to proteins, liquid-junction effects and the influence of ionic strength have demonstrated that the bias between sodium and potassium reports obtained from an average ISE-based commercial... 

---