Supercritical regions ternary systems

Phase Behavior. One of the pioneering works detailing the phase behavior of ternary systems of carbon dioxide was presented ia the early 1950s (12) and consists of a compendium of the solubiHties of over 260 compounds ia Hquid (21—26°C) carbon dioxide. This work contains 268 phase diagrams for ternary systems. Although the data reported are for Hquid CO2 at its vapor pressure, they yield a first approximation to solubiHties that may be encountered ia the supercritical region. Various additional sources of data are also available (1,4,7,13). 

The basic for developing a high pressure liquid extraction unit is the phase equilibrium for the (at least) ternary system, made up of compound A and compound B, which have to be separated by the supercritical fluid C. Changing pressure and temperature influences on one hand the area of the two phase region, where extraction takes place, and on the other hand the connodes, representing the equilibrium between extract and raffinate phase. 

Experimental results are presented for high pressure phase equilibria in the binary systems carbon dioxide - acetone and carbon dioxide - ethanol and the ternary system carbon dioxide - acetone - water at 313 and 333 K and pressures between 20 and 150 bar. A high pressure optical cell with external recirculation and sampling of all phases was used for the experimental measurements. The ternary system exhibits an extensive three-phase equilibrium region with an upper and lower critical solution pressure at both temperatures. A modified cubic equation of a state with a non-quadratic mixing rule was successfully used to model the experimental data. The phase equilibrium behavior of the system is favorable for extraction of acetone from dilute aqueous solutions using supercritical carbon dioxide. 

CO2 in n-hexadecane, and similarly for hydrocinnamaldehyde. Additionally the concentrations of all components that result in complete miscibility or in three-component two-phase regions can be obtained. Francis reported on 464 ternary systems that included compounds ranging from simple hydrocarbons, alcohols, esters, and aldehydes to much more complex substituted aromatics and heterocyclics. The breadth and importance of his contributions cannot be overestimated, yet, apparently his work was quite frequently not consulted for its relevance a number of research groups subsequently "rediscovered that certain separations were not advantageously carried out by supercritical fluid extraction relative to processing by distillation. 

A ternary system composed of oil, water, and surfactant can form a wide variety of aggregated structures. Two characteristic compositions are frequently studied reverse micelle systems in which the amount of oil greatly exceeds the amount of water, and systems in which oil and water are present in relatively equal amounts (Winsor systems). Reverse micelle systems were discussed in the previous section this section is devoted to Winsor systems having an oil phase composed of a supercritical fluid or compressed liquid alkane. It should be noted, however, that these two types of systems merely represent two specific regions in the space of ternary oil-water-surfactant compositions, and both are subject to the same thermodynamic considerations. 

The system carbon dioxide - acetone - water was investigated at 313 and 333 K. The system demonstrates several of the general characteristics of phase equilibrium behavior for ternary aqueous systems with a supercritical fluid. These include an extensive LLV region that appears at relatively low pressures. Carbon dioxide exhibits a high selectivity for acetone over water and can be used to extract acetone from dilute aqueous solutions. 

In the studies described here, we examine in more detail the properties of these surfactant aggregates solubilized in supercritical ethane and propane. We present the results of solubility measurements of AOT in pure ethane and propane and of conductance and density measurements of supercritical fluid reverse micelle solutions. The effect of temperature and pressure on phase behavior of ternary mixtures consisting of AOT/water/supercritical ethane or propane are also examined. We report that the phase behavior of these systems is dependent on fluid pressure in contrast to liquid systems where similar changes in pressure have little or no effect. We have focused our attention on the reverse micelle region where mixtures containing 80 to 100% by weight alkane were examined. The new evidence supports and extends our initial findings related to reverse micelle structures in supercritical fluids. We report properties of these systems which may be important in the field of enhanced oil recovery. 

Phase Equilibria. From recent research (Schneider and Peters) it became apparent that in the near-critical region of certain ternary carbon dioxide mixtures, due to co-solvency effects of the two solutes relative to each other, the fluid multiphase behavior can be quite complex. Phenomena like immiscibility windows and holes are not unusual, which have their consequences for separations in near-critical processing. Peters stressed that for many applications in supercritical technology carbon dioxide is not an appropriate choice since for many solutes it is a poor solvent that would require the use of a cosolvents. If safety and environmental constraints permit, it is certainly worthwhile to consider alternatives for carbon dioxide. Gulari, Schneider and Peters emphasized the importance of studying representative model systems in order to obtain insight into the systematic variations of the complex phase behavior that may occur in near-critical multicomponent mixtures. Debenedetti stressed the importance of focusing on complex fluids like emulsions. 

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