Activity coefficient experimental determination

The activity of the species i in the mixture is the product of concentration and activity coefficient, y , determined experimentally as ... 

Based on agreement between calculated and experimental values of mean ionic activity coefficients, we can infer that the Debye-Hiickel relationship and the data in Table 10-2 give satisfactory activity coefficients for ionic strengths up to about 0.1 M. Beyond this value, the equation fails, and we must determine mean activity coefficients experimentally. 

Experimentally deterrnined equiUbrium constants are usually calculated from concentrations rather than from the activities of the species involved. Thermodynamic constants, based on ion activities, require activity coefficients. Because of the inadequacy of present theory for either calculating or determining activity coefficients for the compHcated ionic stmctures involved, the relatively few known thermodynamic constants have usually been obtained by extrapolation of results to infinite dilution. The constants based on concentration have usually been deterrnined in dilute solution in the presence of excess inert ions to maintain constant ionic strength. Thus concentration constants are accurate only under conditions reasonably close to those used for their deterrnination. Beyond these conditions, concentration constants may be useful in estimating probable effects and relative behaviors, and chelation process designers need to make allowances for these differences in conditions. 

There are many types of phase diagrams in addition to the two cases presented here these are summarized in detail by Zief and Wilcox (op. cit., p. 21). Solid-liquid phase equilibria must be determined experimentally for most binaiy and multicomponent systems. Predictive methods are based mostly on ideal phase behavior and have limited accuracy near eutectics. A predic tive technique based on extracting liquid-phase activity coefficients from vapor-liquid equilib-... 

Of all the techniques, it is those of Group 1 that are likely to give the most realistic data, simply because they measure transport of charged species only. They are not the easiest experimental techniques to perform on polymeric systems and this probably explains why so few studies have been undertaken. The experimental difficulties associated with the Tubandt-Hittorf method are in maintaining nonadherent thin-film compartments. One way is to use crosslinked films [79], while an alternative has been to use a redesigned Hittorf cell [80]. Although very succesful experimentally, the latter has analytical problems. Likewise, emf measurements can be performed with relative ease [81, 82] it is the necessary determination of activity coefficients that is difficult. 

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. 

The activity coefficients in the above equation may be determined by obtaining experimental data for D/ m, and relating Ka to the free energy change for the reaction using the equation AGf = -RT In K. 

Note that a number of complicating factors have been left out for clarity For instance, in the EMF equation, activities instead of concentrations should be used. Activities are related to concentrations by a multiplicative activity coefficient that itself is sensitive to the concentrations of all ions in the solution. The reference electrode necessary to close the circuit also generates a (diffusion) potential that is a complex function of activities and ion mobilities. Furthermore, the slope S of the electrode function is an experimentally determined parameter subject to error. The essential point, though, is that the DVM-clipped voltages appear in the exponent and that cheap equipment extracts a heavy price in terms of accuracy and precision (viz. quantization noise such an instrument typically displays the result in a 1 mV, 0.1 mV, 0.01 mV, or 0.001 mV format a two-decimal instrument clips a 345.678. .. mV result to 345.67 mV, that is it does not round up ... 78 to ... 8 ). 

FIGURE 7.3 Extrapolation of experimental data for the determination of activity coefficients. 

This is an equation for calculating the activity coefficient of an individual ion m (i.e., a parameter inaccessible to experimental determination). Let us, therefore, change to the values of mean ionic activity. By definition [see Eq. (3.27)],... 

Relatively simple experimental techniques, using ebulliometry and chromatography, are available for the determination of the activity coefficients at infinite dilution. The methods used are described by Null (1970) and Conder and Young (1979). 

In the above two equations, the former value is valid for basic SI units and the latter value for / in moles per cubic decimetre and a in nanometres. The parameter a represents one of the difficulties connected with the Debye-Hiickel approach as its direct determination is not possible and is, in most cases, found as an adjustable parameter for the best fit of experimental data in the Eq. (1.3.29). For common ions the values of effective ion radii vary from 0.3 to 0.5. Analogous to the limiting law, the mean activity coefficient can be expressed by the equation... 

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... 

These models are semiempirical and are based on the concept that intermolecular forces will cause nonrandom arrangement of molecules in the mixture. The models account for the arrangement of molecules of different sizes and the preferred orientation of molecules. In each case, the models are fitted to experimental binary vapor-liquid equilibrium data. This gives binary interaction parameters that can be used to predict multicomponent vapor-liquid equilibrium. In the case of the UNIQUAC equation, if experimentally determined vapor-liquid equilibrium data are not available, the Universal Quasi-chemical Functional Group Activity Coefficients (UNIFAC) method can be used to estimate UNIQUAC parameters from the molecular structures of the components in the mixture3. 

The most important aspect of the simulation is that the thermodynamic data of the chemicals be modeled correctly. It is necessary to decide what equation of state to use for the vapor phase (ideal gas, Redlich-Kwong-Soave, Peng-Robinson, etc.) and what model to use for liquid activity coefficients [ideal solutions, solubility parameters, Wilson equation, nonrandom two liquid (NRTL), UNIFAC, etc.]. See Sec. 4, Thermodynamics. It is necessary to consider mixtures of chemicals, and the interaction parameters must be predictable. The best case is to determine them from data, and the next-best case is to use correlations based on the molecular weight, structure, and normal boiling point. To validate the model, the computer results of vapor-liquid equilibria could be checked against experimental data to ensure their validity before the data are used in more complicated computer calculations. 

It is important to note that the coefficients fp, gp, and hs are always nonvanishing, for both achiral and chiral isotropic films. On the other hand, fs, gs, and hp can only be nonvanishing if the isotropic film is chiral (nonracemic) because they completely depend on the chiral susceptibility components. Note that gs is always equal to zero within the electric dipole approximation. The sign of the chiral expansion coefficients changes between enantiomers, while that of the achiral expansion coefficients stays the same. Experimental determination of all expansion coefficients fully characterizes the nonlinearity and nonlinear optical activity of the sample. Once all expansion coefficients are... 

Changes in solubility product are one means of experimentally determining a value of activity coefficient, because we can independently determine the concentrations (e.g. via a titration) and the values of all y will be one at zero ionic strength. 

Usually, however, the distribution coefficients determined experimentally are not equal to the ratios of the solubility product because the ratio of the activity coefficients of the constituents in the solid phase cannot be assumed to be equal to 1. Actually observed D values show that activity coefficients in the solid phase may differ markedly from 1. Let us consider, for example, the coprecipitation of MnC03 in calcite. Assuming that the ratio of the activity coefficients in the aqueous solution is close to unity, the equilibrium distribution may be formulated as (cf. Eq. A.6.11)... 

The equilibrium value in (8.10) and the experimentally determined value is of the same order of magnitude. Plausibly, the activity coefficient of CdC03(s) could be somewhat smaller than 1. 

This permits provisional calculation of the compositional dependence of the equilibrium constant and determination of provisional values of the solid phase activity coefficients (discussed below). The equilibrium constant and activity coefficients are termed provisional because it is not possible to determine if stoichiometric saturation has been established without independent knowledge of the compositional dependence of the equilibrium constant, such as would be provided from independent thermodynamic measurements. Using the provisional activity coefficient data we may compare the observed solid solution-aqueous solution compositions with those calculated at equilibrium. Agreement between the calculated and observed values confirms, within the experimental data uncertainties, the establishment of equilibrium. The true solid solution thermodynamic properties are then defined to be equal to the provisional values. 

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