Supercritical fluids thermodynamic properties

Thermodynamic Properties The variation in solvent strength of a supercritical fluid From gaslike to hquidlike values may oe described qualitatively in terms of the density, p, or the solubihty parameter, 6 (square root of the cohesive energy density). It is shown For gaseous, hquid, and SCF CO9 as a function of pressure in Fig. 22-17 according to the rigorous thermodynamic definition ... 

McDonald, I. R. Singer, K., Machine calculation of thermodynamic properties of a simple fluid at supercritical temperatures, J. Chem. Phys. 1967, 47, 4766-4772... 

Enantioselective separation by supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) has been a field of great progress since the first demonstration of a chiral separation by SFC in the 1980s. The unique properties of supercritical fluids make packed column SFC the most favorable choice for fast enantiomeric separation among all of the separation techniques. In this chapter, the effect of chiral stationary phases, modifiers, and additives on enantioseparation are discussed in terms of speed and resolution in SFC. Fundamental considerations and thermodynamic aspects are also presented. 

Recent experimental results on thermodynamic properties of high pressure supercritical fluids have opened up the possibility to study combustion and flames at very high pressures and in unusual environments. Stationary diffusion flames have been produced up to 2000 bar in dense aqueous mixed fluid phases. 

The benefits from tuning the solvent system can be tremendous. Again, remarkable opportunities exist for the fruitful exploitation of the special properties of supercritical and near-critical fluids as solvents for chemical reactions. Solution properties may be tuned, with thermodynamic conditions or cosolvents, to modify rates, yields, and selectivities, and supercritical fluids offer greatly enhanced mass transfer for heterogeneous reactions. Also, both supercritical fluids and near-critical water can often replace environmentally undesirable solvents or catalysts, or avoid undesirable byproducts. Furthermore, rational design of solvent systems can also modify reactions to facilitate process separations (Eckert and Chandler, 1998). 

Various authors have considered the glassy state behaviour, and in particular the sorption of gases and supercritical fluids. The main dificulty is to find a thermodynamic model suitable for the description of the properties of the glassy state. Also, the normal equations of state specially developed for polymeric systems are not directly applicable to the non-equilibrium conditions of this state. 

Chapters 17 and 18 use thermodynamics to describe solutions, with nonelectrolyte solutions described in Chapter 17 and electrolyte solutions described in Chapter 18. Chapter 17 focuses on the excess thermodynamic properties, with the properties of the ideal and regular solution compared with the real solution. Deviations from ideal solution behavior are correlated with the type of interactions in the liquid mixture, and extensions are made to systems with (liquid + liquid) phase equilibrium, and (fluid -I- fluid) phase equilibrium when the mixture involves supercritical fluids. 

A gaseous pure component can be defined as supercritical when its state is determined by values of temperature T and pressure P that are above its critical parameters (Tc and Pc). In the proximity of its critical point, a pure supercritical fluid (or a dense gas as it is alternatively known) has a very high isothermal compressibility, and this makes possible to change significantly the density of the fluid with relatively limited modifications of T and P. On the other hand, it has been shown that the thermodynamic and transport properties of supercritical fluids can be tuned simply by changing the density of the medium. This is particularly interesting for... 

The operating pressure is obtained from the vapor pressure and the partial pressure of the gaseous educts and products. In this process, the temperatures applied are between 150 and 500 °C. In recent times, supercritical fluids have attracted a great deal of attention as potential extraction agents and reaction media in chemical reactions. This has resulted from an unusual combination of thermodynamic properties and transport properties. As a rule supercritical reactions like hydrolysis or oxidation are carried out in water. Above the critical point of water, its properties are very different to those of normal liquid water or atmospheric steam. 

For a pure supercritical fluid, the relationships between pressure, temperature and density are easily estimated (except very near the critical point) with reasonable precision from equations of state and conform quite closely to that given in Figure 1. The phase behavior of binary fluid systems is highly varied and much more complex than in single-component systems and has been well-described for selected binary systems (see, for example, reference 13 and references therein). A detailed discussion of the different types of binary fluid mixtures and the phase behavior of these systems can be found elsewhere (X2). Cubic ecjuations of state have been used successfully to describe the properties and phase behavior of multicomponent systems, particularly fot hydrocarbon mixtures (14.) The use of conventional ecjuations of state to describe properties of surfactant-supercritical fluid mixtures is not appropriate since they do not account for the formation of aggregates (the micellar pseudophase) or their solubilization in a supercritical fluid phase. A complete thermodynamic description of micelle and microemulsion formation in liquids remains a challenging problem, and no attempts have been made to extend these models to supercritical fluid phases. 

Gas flow processes through microporous materials are important to many industrial applications involving membrane gas separations. Permeability measurements through mesoporous media have been published exhibiting a maximum at some relative pressure, a fact that has been attributed to the occurrence of capillary condensation and the menisci formed at the gas-liquid interface [1,2]. Although, similar results, implying a transition in the adsorbed phase, have been reported for microporous media [3] and several theoretical studies [4-6] have been carried out, a comprehensive explanation of the static and dynamic behavior of fluids in micropores is yet to be given, especially when supercritical conditions are considered. Supercritical fluids attract, nowadays, both industrial and scientific interest, due to their unique thermodynamic properties at the vicinity of the critical point. For example supercritical CO2 is widely used in industry as an extraction solvent as well as for chemical... 

The Hildebrand solubility parameter, 6, is a semi-quantitative entity related to the thermodynamic properties of dense gases (supercritical fluids) and solutions.t The solubility parameter in calories per cubic centimeter is calculated from the equation ... 

Sverjensky D. A. (1987) Calculation of the thermodynamic properties of aqueous species and the solubilities of minerals in supercritical electrolyte solutions. In Thermodynamic Modeling of Geological Materials Minerals, Fluids, and Melts, Reviews in Mineralogy (eds. I. S. E. Carmichael and H. P. Eugster). Mineralogical Society of America, Washington, DC, vol. 17, pp. 177-209. 

The review here proposed shows clearly that the use of a membrane in the presence of a supercritical fluid makes it possible the design of very attractive and powerful processes to improve transfer or reaction, to set in contact different phases, to fluidify highly viscous liquids, etc. or for the preparation of new generations of membranes. This is to be connected to the specific thermodynamic and transport properties of supercritical fluids and the particular environment that is created for all these operations. 

The solvent strength of a supercritical fluid (compressed gas) may be adjusted continuously from gas-like to liquid-like values, as described qualitatively by the solubility parameter. The solubility parameter, 8 (square root of the cohesive energy density) (2), is shown for gaseous, liquid, and SCF carbon dioxide as a function of pressure in Figure 1. It is a thermodynamic property which can be calculated rigorously as... 

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