Activity coefficients, liquid phase methods

In vapor-liquid equilibria, it is relatively easy to start the iteration because assumption of ideal behavior (Raoult s law) provides a reasonable zeroth approximation. By contrast, there is no obvious corresponding method to start the iteration calculation for liquid-liquid equilibria. Further, when two liquid phases are present, we must calculate for each component activity coefficients in two phases since these are often strongly nonlinear functions of compositions, liquid-liquid equilibrium calculations are highly sensitive to small changes in composition. In vapor-liquid equilibria at modest pressures, this sensitivity is lower because vapor-phase fugacity coefficients are usually close to unity and only weak functions of composition. For liquid-liquid equilibria, it is therefore more difficult to construct a numerical iteration procedure that converges both rapidly and consistently. 

To illustrate calculations for a binary system containing a supercritical, condensable component. Figure 12 shows isobaric equilibria for ethane-n-heptane. Using the virial equation for vapor-phase fugacity coefficients, and the UNIQUAC equation for liquid-phase activity coefficients, calculated results give an excellent representation of the data of Kay (1938). In this case,the total pressure is not large and therefore, the mixture is at all times remote from critical conditions. For this binary system, the particular method of calculation used here would not be successful at appreciably higher pressures. 

Example 8 Calculation of Rate-Based Distillation The separation of 655 lb mol/h of a bubble-point mixture of 16 mol % toluene, 9.5 mol % methanol, 53.3 mol % styrene, and 21.2 mol % ethylbenzene is to be earned out in a 9.84-ft diameter sieve-tray column having 40 sieve trays with 2-inch high weirs and on 24-inch tray spacing. The column is equipped with a total condenser and a partial reboiler. The feed wiU enter the column on the 21st tray from the top, where the column pressure will be 93 kPa, The bottom-tray pressure is 101 kPa and the top-tray pressure is 86 kPa. The distillate rate wiU be set at 167 lb mol/h in an attempt to obtain a sharp separation between toluene-methanol, which will tend to accumulate in the distillate, and styrene and ethylbenzene. A reflux ratio of 4.8 wiU be used. Plug flow of vapor and complete mixing of liquid wiU be assumed on each tray. K values will be computed from the UNIFAC activity-coefficient method and the Chan-Fair correlation will be used to estimate mass-transfer coefficients. Predict, with a rate-based model, the separation that will be achieved and back-calciilate from the computed tray compositions, the component vapor-phase Miirphree-tray efficiencies. 

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-... 

In addition to deciding on the method of normalization of activity coefficients, it is necessary to undertake two additional tasks first, a method is required for estimating partial molar volumes in the liquid phase, and second, a model must be chosen for the liquid mixture in order to relate y to x. Partial molar volumes were discussed in Section IV. This section gives brief attention to two models which give the effect of composition on liquid-phase thermodynamic properties. 

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. 

Unless liquid phase activity coefficients have been used, it is best to use the same equation of state for excess enthalpy that was selected for the vapour-liquid equilibria. If liquid-phase activity coefficients have been specified, then a correlation appropriate for the activity coefficient method should be used. 

The liquid phase activity coefficient, which is a function of the subgroups, composition and temperature, can be evaluated using the UNIFAC group contribution method (Freedunslund et al., 1975). 

At present there are two fundamentally different approaches available for calculating phase equilibria, one utilising activity coefficients and the other an equation of state. In the case of vapour-liquid equilibrium (VLE), the first method is an extension of Raoult s Law. For binary systems it requires typically three Antoine parameters for each component and two parameters for the activity coefficients to describe the pure-component vapour pressure and the phase equilibrium. Further parameters are needed to represent the temperature dependence of the activity coefficients, therebly allowing the heat of mixing to be calculated. 

The first method, which is the more flexible, is to use an activity coefficient model, which is common at moderate or low pressures where the liquid phase is incompressible. At high pressures or when any component is close to or above the critical point (above which the liquid and gas phases become indistinguishable), one can use an equation of state that takes into account the effect of pressure. Two phases, denoted a and P, are in equilibrium when the fugacity / (for an ideal gas the fungacity is equal to the pressure) is the same for each component i in both phases ... 

At low or moderate pressure, when the liquid phase is incompressible, an activity coefficient model (y model) is more flexible to use than an equation of state. This method often works, even for strongly nonideal systems involving polar and associating components. 

Activity coefficient methods work fairly well at temperatures well below the critical, at which the liquid phase is largely incompressible, and up to moderate pressures. 

The same reference (standard) state, f is chosen for the two phases, so that it cancels on both sides of equation 39. The products stffi and y" are referred to as activities. Because equation 39 holds for each component of a liquid—liquid system, it is possible to predict liquid—liquid phase splitting when the activity coefficients of the individual components in a multicomponent system are known. These values can come from vapor—liquid equilibrium experiments or from prediction methods developed for phase-equilibrium problems (4,5,10). Some binary systems can be modeled satisfactorily in this manner, but only rough estimations appear to be possible for multicomponent systems because activity coefficient models are not yet sufficiendy developed in this area. 

From a Solution Model. Calculation of the difference in reduced standard-state chemical potentials by methods I or III in the absence of experimental thermodynamic properties for the liquid phase necessitates the imposition of a solution model to represent the activity coefficients of the stoichiometric liquid. Method I is equivalent to the equation of Vieland (106) and has been used almost exclusively in the literature. The principal difference between methods I and III is in the evaluation of the activity coefficients... 

A general formulation of the problem of solid-liquid phase equilibrium in quaternary systems was presented and required the evaluation of two thermodynamic quantities, By and Ty. Four methods for calculating Gy from experimental data were suggested. With these methods, reliable values of Gy for most compound semiconductors could be determined. The term Ty involves the deviation of the liquid solution from ideal behavior relative to that in the solid. This term is less important than the individual activity coefficients because of a partial cancellation of the composition and temperature dependence of the individual activity coefficients. The thermodynamic data base available for liquid mixtures is far more extensive than that for solid solutions. Future work aimed at measurement of solid-mixture properties would be helpful in identifying miscibility limits and their relation to LPE as a problem of constrained equilibrium. 

Nitric acid is a strong electrolyte. Therefore, the solubilities of nitrogen oxides in water given in Ref. 191 and based on Henry s law are utilized and further corrected by using the method of van Krevelen and Hofhjzer (77) for electrolyte solutions. The chemical equilibrium is calculated in terms of liquid-phase activities. The local composition model of Engels (192), based on the UNIQUAC model, is used for the calculation of vapor pressures and activity coefficients of water and nitric acid. Multicomponent diffusion coefficients in the liquid phase are corrected for the nonideality, as suggested in Ref. 57. 

It should be noted that distribution coefficients Ki comprise both fugacities in the gas phase and activity coefficients in the liquid phase. These coefficients are determined by the three-parametric Electrolyte-NRTL method. The latter is based on the local composition concept and satisfactorily represents physical interactions of this multicomponent electrolyte system [46]. 

The Chao-Seader and the Grayson-Streed methods are very similar in that they both use the same mathematical models for each phase. For the vapor, the Redlich-Kwong equation of state is used. This two-parameter generalized pressure-volume-temperature (P-V-T) expression is very convenient because only the critical constants of the mixture components are required for applications. For the liquid phase, both methods used the regular solution theory of Scatchard and Hildebrand (26) for the activity coefficient plus an empirical relationship for the reference liquid fugacity coefficient. Chao-Seader and Grayson-Streed derived different constants for these two liquid equations, however. 

The Lee-Erbar-Edmister method is of the same type, but uses different expressions for the fugacity and activity coefficients. The vapor phase equation of state is a three-parameter expression, and binary interaction corrections are included. The liquid phase activity and fugacity coefficient expressions were derived to extend the method to lower temperatures and to improve accuracy. Binary interaction terms were included in the liquid activity coefficient equation. 

The liquid phase and polymer phase activity coefficients were combined from different methods to see if better estimation accuracy could be obtained, since some estimation methods were developed for estimation of activity coefficients in polymers (e.g. GCFLORY, ELBRO-FV) and others have their origins in liquid phase activity coefficient estimation (e.g. UNIFAC). The UNIFAC liquid phase activity coefficient combined with GCFLORY (1990 and 1994 versions) and ELBRO-FV polymer activity coefficients were shown to be the combinations giving the best estimations out of all possible combinations of the different methods. Also included in Table 4-3 are estimations of partition coefficients made using the semi-empirical group contribution method referred to as the Retention Indices Method covered in the next section. 

The compositions of the vapor and liquid phases in equilibrium for partially miscible systems are calculated in the same way as for miscible systems. In the regions where a single liquid is in equilibrium with its vapor, the general nature of Fig. 13.17 is not different in any essential way from that of Fig. I2.9< Since limited miscibility implies highly nonideal behavior, any general assumption of liquid-phase ideality is excluded. Even a combination of Henry s law, valid for a species at infinite dilution, and Raoult s law, valid for a species as it approaches purity, is not very useful, because each approximates real behavior only for a very small composition range. Thus GE is large, and its composition dependence is often not adequately represented by simple equations. However, the UNIFAC method (App. D) is suitable for estimation of activity coefficients. 

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