Supercritical fluid, physical properties

Table 3.3 presents the approximate physical properties of gases, supercritical fluids, and liquids. It shows that the densities of supercritical fluids are close to that of a liquid, whereas their viscosities are gaslike. The diffusion coefficients are in between. Due to these unique properties, supercritical fluids have good solvating power (like liquid), high diffusivity (better than liquid), low viscosity, and minimal surface tension (like gas). With rapid mass transfer in the supercritical phase and with better ability to penetrate the pores in a matrix, extraction is fast in SFE, along with high extraction efficiency. 

Of these featores, the pressure-dependence of SCF properties dominates or influences virtually every process conducted on polymers. Pressure governs such properties as density, solubility parameter, and dielectric constant changes of more than an order of magnitude are common when pressure is sufficiently increased to transform a gas into a supercritical fluid. This chapter primarily compiles experimental data on the pressure dependence of physical properties of fluid phase polymer-SCF mixtures. Phase equilibria are addressed, including the solubility of polymers in SCFs, the solubility of SCFs in liquid polymers, and the three-phase solid-fluid-fluid equilibria of crystalline polymers saturated with SCFs. Additional thermodynamic properties include glass transition temperature depressions of polymers, and interfacial tension between SCF-swollen polymers and the SCF. The viscosity of fluid phase polymer-SCF mixtures is also treated. 

As it has appeared in recent years that many hmdamental aspects of elementary chemical reactions in solution can be understood on the basis of the dependence of reaction rate coefficients on solvent density [2, 3, 4 and 5], increasing attention is paid to reaction kinetics in the gas-to-liquid transition range and supercritical fluids under varying pressure. In this way, the essential differences between the regime of binary collisions in the low-pressure gas phase and tliat of a dense enviromnent with typical many-body interactions become apparent. An extremely useful approach in this respect is the investigation of rate coefficients, reaction yields and concentration-time profiles of some typical model reactions over as wide a pressure range as possible, which pemiits the continuous and well controlled variation of the physical properties of the solvent. Among these the most important are density, polarity and viscosity in a contimiiim description or collision frequency. 

Physical property Gases Supercritical fluids Liquids... 

Physical properties of pure supercritical fluids may be found ia many of the standard reference textbooks and journals (10). There are also... 

A fluid is described as supercritical or subcritical if its temperature is above or below its critical temperature. Above the critical temperature the liquid and vapor phases are indistinguishable, the densities of the two phases become identical and the substance is described as a fluid, the physical properties of which are intermediate between those of a liquid and a gas [75]. 

A supercritical fluid exhibits physical-chemical properties intermediate between those of liquids and gases. Mass transfer is rapid with supercritical fluids. Their dynamic viscosities are nearer to those in normal gaseous states. In the vicinity of the critical point the diffusion coefficient is more than 10 times that of a liquid. Carbon dioxide can be compressed readily to form a liquid. Under typical borehole conditions, carbon dioxide is a supercritical fluid. 

TABLE 20-12 Physical Properties of a Supercritical Fluid Fall between Those of a Typical Gas and Liquid... 

Pure substance, phase behavior of, 24 663 Pure supercritical fluids, physical properties of, 24 4... 

Comparison of physical properties of liquids, gases and supercritical fluids... 

Supercritical fluids (SCFs) are best known through their use for the decaffeination of coffee, which employs supercritical carbon dioxide (scCC ). In this chapter, we will demonstrate that SCFs also have many properties that make them interesting and useful reaction media. Firstly, the physical properties of SCFs will be explained, then the specialist equipment needed for carrying out reactions under high temperatures and pressures will be described. Finally, we will discuss issues relevant to the use of SCFs as solvents for reactions. 

Supercritical fluids have many features that render their use attractive in synthetic chemistry and separations. Their tunable physical properties allow reactions to be carried out under a variety of conditions and, in some cases, the selectivities and rates of reactions may be altered. The list of reactions that have been carried out in SCFs and compared with those in conventional solvents is continually growing. 

Although the general principles of separation processes are applicable widely across the process industries, more specialised techniques are now being developed. Reference is made in Chapter 13 to the use of supercritical fluids, such as carbon dioxide, for the extraction of components from naturally produced materials in the food industry, and to the applications of aqueous two-phase systems of low interfacial tensions for the separation of the products from bioreactors, many of which will be degraded by the action of harsh organic solvents. In many cases, biochemical separations may involve separation processes of up to ten stages, possibly with each utilising a different technique. Very often, differences in both physical and chemical properties are utilised. Frequently... 

Supercritical fluids possess favorable physical properties that result in good behavior for mass transfer of solutes in a column. Some important physical properties of liquids, gases, and supercritical fluids are compared in Table 4.1 [49]. It can be seen that solute diffusion coefficients are greater in a supercritical fluid than in a liquid phase. When compared to HPLC, higher analyte diffusivity leads to lower mass transfer resistance, which results in sharper peaks. Higher diffusivity also results in higher optimum linear velocities, since the optimum linear velocity for a packed column is proportional to the diffusion coefficient of the mobile phase for liquid-like fluids [50, 51]. 

The physical-chemical properties of a supercritical fluid are between those of liquids and gases supercritical fluids (SCFs) indicate the fluid state of a compound in pure substance or as the main component above its critical pressure (pc) and its critical temperature (Tc), but below the pressure for phase transition to the solid state, and in terms of SCF processing, a density close to or higher than its critical density. 

Ultimately physical theories should be expressed in quantitative terms for testing and use, but because of the complexity of liquid systems this can only be accomplished by making severe approximations. For example, it is often necessary to treat the solvent as a continuous homogeneous medium characterized by bulk properties such as dielectric constant and density, whereas we know that the solvent is a molecular assemblage with short-range structure. For an example of this tool with supercritical fluids see Ting et al., 1993. 

To design a supercritical fluid extraction process for the separation of bioactive substances from natural products, a quantitative knowledge of phase equilibria between target biosolutes and solvent is necessary. The solubility of bioactive coumarin and its various derivatives (i.e., hydroxy-, methyl-, and methoxy-derivatives) in SCCO2 were measured at 308.15-328.15 K and 10-30 MPa. Also, the pure physical properties such as normal boiling point, critical constants, acentric factor, molar volume, and standard vapor pressure for coumarin and its derivatives were estimated. By this estimated information, the measured solubilities were quantitatively correlated by an approximate lattice equation of state (Yoo et al., 1997). 

Adding an organic solvent (such as methanol or acetone) to the supercritical fluid can modify its solvating properties. Since the polarity of C02 in its supercritical state (at 100 atm and 35 °C) is comparable to that of hexane, it can be altered by introducing a modifier. Nonetheless, isolating analyte from the matrix requires knowledge about the solubility and the transfer rate of solute in the solvent as well as chemical and physical interactions between matrix and solvent (Fig. 20.6). 

The evaluation of the sublimation pressure is a problem since most of the compounds to be extracted with the supercritical fluids exhibit sublimation pressures of the order of 10 14 bar, and as a consequence these data cannot be determined experimentally. The sublimation pressure is thus usually estimated by empirical correlations, which are often developed only for hydrocarbon compounds. In the correlation of solubility data this problem can be solved empirically by considering the pure component parameters as fitting-parameters. Better results are obviously obtained [61], but the physical significance of the numerical values of the parameters obtained is doubtful. For example, different pure component properties can be obtained for the same solute using solubility data for different binary mixtures. 

The physical properties of the supercritical fluid differ from those of the bulk liquid. One of the most notable changes is the lower dielectric constant of polar solvents such as water which allows the accumulation of low-polarity solutes at this interface. This explains the crucial role of the hydro-phobicity of solutes during reactions in the solution. Thermolysis as well as radical abstraction reactions occur in this region. A temperature of approximately 800 K was determined for the interfacial region surrounding the... 

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