Thermodynamics aqueous systems, chemical equilibrium

Medium-chain alcohols such as 2-butoxyethanol (BE) exist as microaggregates in water which in many respects resemble micellar systems. Mixed micelles can be formed between such alcohols and surfactants. The thermodynamics of the system BE-sodlum decanoate (Na-Dec)-water was studied through direct measurements of volumes (flow denslmetry), enthalpies and heat capacities (flow microcalorimetry). Data are reported as transfer functions. The observed trends are analyzed with a recently published chemical equilibrium model (J. Solution Chem. 13,1,1984). By adjusting the distribution constant and the thermodynamic property of the solute In the mixed micelle. It Is possible to fit nearly quantitatively the transfer of BE from water to aqueous NaDec. The model Is not as successful for the transfert of NaDec from water to aqueous BE at low BE concentrations Indicating self-association of NaDec Induced by BE. The model can be used to evaluate the thermodynamic properties of both components of the mixed micelle. 

The need to abstract from the considerable complexity of real natural water systems and substitute an idealized situation is met perhaps most simply by the concept of chemical equilibrium in a closed model system. Figure 2 outlines the main features of a generalized model for the thermodynamic description of a natural water system. The model is a closed system at constant temperature and pressure, the system consisting of a gas phase, aqueous solution phase, and some specified number of solid phases of defined compositions. For a thermodynamic description, information about activities is required therefore, the model indicates, along with concentrations and pressures, activity coefficients, fiy for the various composition variables of the system. There are a number of approaches to the problem of relating activity and concentrations, but these need not be examined here (see, e.g., Ref. 11). 

Eh is a measure of oxidation-reduction potential in the solution. The chemical reactions in the aqueous system depend on both the pH and the Eh. While pH measures the activity (or concentration) of hydrogen ions in the solution, Eh is a measure of the activity of all dissolved species. Aqueous solutions contain both oxidized and reduced species. For example, if iron is present in the solution, there is a thermodynamic equilibrium between its oxidized and reduced forms. Thus, at the redox equilibrium, the reaction is as follows ... 

A revised, updated suinmary of equilibrium constants and reaction enthalpies for aqueous ion association reactions and mineral solubilities has been compiled from the literature for common equilibria occurring in natural waters at 0-100 C and 1 bar pressure. The species have been limited to those containing the elements Na, K, Li, Ca, Mg, Ba, Sr, Ra, Fe(II/III), Al, Mn(II,III,IV), Si, C, Cl, S(VI) and F. The necessary criteria for obtaining reliable and consistent thermodynamic data for water chemistry modeling is outlined and limitations on the application of equilibrium computations is described. An important limitation is that minerals that do not show reversible solubility behavior should not be assumed to attain chemical equilibrium in natural aquatic systems. 

Chemical modeling results for aqueous systems is dependent on the primary thermodynamic and kinetic data needed to perform the calculations. For aqueous equilibrium computations, a large number of thermodynamic properties of solute-solute, solute-gas and solute-solid reactions are available for application to natural waters and other aqueous systems. Unfortunately, an internally consistent thermodynamic data base that is accurate for all modeling objectives, has not been achieved. Nor is it likely to be achieved in the near future. The best that can be hoped for is a tolerable level of inconsistency, with continuing progress toward the utopian goal through national and international consensus. 

The difficulties of experimentally determining the speciation of actinides present at very low concentrations in natural waters have encouraged the use of computer simulations, based on thermodynamic data, as a means of predicting their speciation and hence their environmental behaviour. The use of modelling techniques to describe the speciation, sorption, solubility and kinetics of inorganic systems in aqueous media has been reviewed in the papers given at an international conference in 1978. Both chemical equilibrium models, exemplified by computer programs such as MINEQL and SOLMNQ, and dynamic reaction path models, exemplified by EQ6, have been developed. Application of the equilibrium models to radioactive waste disposal... 

Note that conditional averages appear in AEc, but not in A S- We shall now reinterpret this observation from a chemical equilibrium point of view i.e., the quantity Ep g - (Ep)o will be related to the shift in the chemical equilibrium L H induced by the adsorption of G. To do that we adopt a mixture-model point of view of the same system. This approach will be generalized in Chapter 5 to treat any liquid and in particular aqueous solutions. In our model we have two states of the adsorbent molecules. The mixture-model approach follows from the classification of molecules in state L as L-molecule, and likewise molecules in state H as an //-molecule. This is the same procedure we have discussed in section 2.4. We now assign partial molecular quantities to the species L and H, viewing Ml and Mh as independent variables. Theoretically these are defined as partial derivatives of the corresponding thermodynamic functions (see below). From the physical point of view, these can be defined only if we have a means of varying Ml and Mh independently, e.g., by placing an inhibitor that prevents the conversion between... 

E. L. Shock (1990) provides a different interpretation of these results he criticizes that the redox state of the reaction mixture was not checked in the Miller/Bada experiments. Shock also states that simple thermodynamic calculations show that the Miller/Bada theory does not stand up. To use terms like instability and decomposition is not correct when chemical compounds (here amino acids) are present in aqueous solution under extreme conditions and are aiming at a metastable equilibrium. Shock considers that oxidized and metastable carbon and nitrogen compounds are of greater importance in hydrothermal systems than are reduced compounds. In the interior of the Earth, CO2 and N2 are in stable redox equilibrium with substances such as amino acids and carboxylic acids, while reduced compounds such as CH4 and NH3 are not. The explanation lies in the oxidation state of the lithosphere. Shock considers the two mineral systems FMQ and PPM discussed above as particularly important for the system seawater/basalt rock. The FMQ system acts as a buffer in the oceanic crust. At depths of around 1.3 km, the PPM system probably becomes active, i.e., N2 and CO2 are the dominant species in stable equilibrium conditions at temperatures above 548 K. When the temperature of hydrothermal solutions falls (below about 548 K), they probably pass through a stability field in which CH4 and NII3 predominate. If kinetic factors block the achievement of equilibrium, metastable compounds such as alkanes, carboxylic acids, alkyl benzenes and amino acids are formed between 423 and 293 K. 

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