Vapor-liquid equilibrium effect

In the mixed-phase CD reaction system, propylene concentration in the liquid phase is kept extremely low (<0.1 wt%) due to the higher volatility of propylene to benzene. This minimizes propylene oligomerization, the primary cause of catalyst deactivation and results in catalyst run lengths of 3 to 6 years. The vapor-liquid equilibrium effect provides propylene dilution unachievable in fixed-bed systems, even with expensive reactor pumparound and/or benzene recycle arrangements. 

We are interested in comparing the effectiveness of the various equations of state in predicting the (p. V. T) properties. We will limit our comparisons to Tr > 1 since for Tr < 1 condensations to the liquid phase occur. Prediction of (vapor + liquid) equilibrium would be of interest, but these predictions present serious problems, since in some instances the equations of state do not converge for Tr< 1. 

Thermodynamic energy terms (and equilibrium constants) may differ for compounds containing different isotopic species of an element. This effect is described in theoretical detail by Urey (1947), and applications to geochemistry are discussed by Broecker and Oversby (1971) and Faure (1977). A good example is the case of the vapor/liquid equilibrium for water. The vapor pressure of a lighter isotopic species, H2 0, is higher relative to that of heavier species, (or HD O), and others. 

A distillation calculation is to be performed on a multicomponent mixture. The vapor-liquid equilibrium for this mixture is likely to exhibit significant departures from ideality, but a complete set of binary interaction parameters is not available. What factors would you consider in assessing whether the missing interaction parameters are likely to have an important effect on the calculations ... 

Other companies (e.g., Hoechst) have developed a slightly different process in which the water content is low in order to save CO feedstock. In the absence of water it turned out that the catalyst precipitates. Clearly, at low water concentrations the reduction of rhodium(III) back to rhodium(I) is much slower, but the formation of the trivalent rhodium species is reduced in the first place, because the HI content decreases with the water concentration. The water content is kept low by adding part of the methanol in the form of methyl acetate. Indeed, the shift reaction is now suppressed. Stabilization of the rhodium species and lowering of the HI content can be achieved by the addition of iodide salts. High reaction rates and low catalyst usage can be achieved at low reactor water concentration by the introduction of tertiary phosphine oxide additives.8 The kinetics of the title reaction with respect to [MeOH] change if H20 is used as a solvent instead of AcOH.9 Kinetic data for the Rh-catalyzed carbonylation of methanol have been critically analyzed. The discrepancy between the reaction rate constants is due to ignoring the effect of vapor-liquid equilibrium of the iodide promoter.10... 

Gas production and subsequent pressure-time histories can be investigated successfully only in pressure vessels such as the VSP. If the gaseous product dissolves partly in the reaction mixture (i.e., the vapor-liquid equilibrium is changed), careful investigations of the pressure effect within the possible variations of the operating conditions are necessary. Pressurized vessels are also useful to investigate any mass transfer improvement for gas-liquid or gas-dissolved (suspended) solid reactions. 

The semi-empirical Pitzer equation for modeling equilibrium in aqueous electrolyte systems has been extended in a thermodynamically consistent manner to allow for molecular as well as ionic solutes. Under limiting conditions, the extended model reduces to the well-known Setschenow equation for the salting out effect of molecular solutes. To test the validity of the model, correlations of vapor-liquid equilibrium data were carried out for three systems the hydrochloric acid aqueous solution at 298.15°K and concentrations up to 18 molal the NH3-CO2 aqueous solution studied by van Krevelen, et al. 

Ciparis, J. N., "Data of Salt Effect in Vapor-Liquid Equilibrium," Lithuanian Agricultural Academy, Kaunas, Lithuania, USSR, 1966. 

Optimized steam requirement is relatively insensitive to solution pH. Solution capacity for SO2 absorption can reasonably vary from 0.1 to 0.4 g-moles S02/liter. The SO2 gas sensing electrode is an effective tool for vapor/liquid equilibrium at room temperature. 

This effect, in and of itself, tends to increase the yield of tar (and therefore of total volatiles), for the reason discussed earlier. However, increasing the ambient pressure also shifts the vapor-liquid equilibrium of the tar species to smaller tar species (with higher vapor pressures) and thus tends to diminish the overall release of tar. Wire-mesh experiments with well-controlled particle heating rates show a significant reduction in the yield of tar and total volatiles as the pressure is increased. The rate of devolatilization, however, is nearly insensitive to pressure, as would be expected for unimolecular reaction processes. 

The topic covered in the 10 papers of the first section is commonly referred to as salt effect in vapor-liquid equilibrium and is potentially of great industrial importance. This salt effect leads to extractive distillation processes in which a dissolved salt replaces a liquid additive as the separating agent the replacement often results in a greatly improved separating ability and reduced energy requirements. Two papers in this volume, those by Sloan and by Vaillancourt, illustrate the use of such processing to concentrate nitric acid from its aqueous azeotrope. Nevertheless, the effect has not been exploited by industry to nearly the extent that would seem to be merited by its scientific promise. 

The effect of salts on the vapor-liquid equilibrium of solvent mixtures has been of considerable interest in recent years. Introduction of a salt into a binary solvent mixture results in a change in the relative volatility of the solvents. This effect can be used to an advantage where the separation of the solvents is of interest. Furter and co-workers have demonstrated the potential importance of salts as separating agents in extractive distillation (J, 2, 3). 

Correlation and Prediction of Salt Effect in Vapor-Liquid Equilibrium... 

A review is presented of techniques for the correlation and prediction of vapor-liquid equilibrium data in systems consisting of two volatile components and a salt dissolved in the liquid phase, and for the testing of such data for thermodynamic consistency. The complex interactions comprising salt effect in systems which in effect consist of a concentrated electrolyte in a mixed solvent composed of two liquid components, one or both of which may be polar, are discussed. The difficulties inherent in their characterization and quantitative treatment are described. Attempts to correlate, predict, and test data for thermodynamic consistency in such systems are reviewed under the following headings correlation at fixed liquid composition, extension to entire liquid composition range, prediction from pure-component properties, use of correlations based on the Gibbs-Duhem equation, and the recent special binary approach. 

The use of a dissolved salt in place of a liquid component as the separating agent in extractive distillation has strong advantages in certain systems with respect to both increased separation efficiency and reduced energy requirements. A principal reason why such a technique has not undergone more intensive development or seen more than specialized industrial use is that the solution thermodynamics of salt effect in vapor-liquid equilibrium are complex, and are still not well understood. However, even small amounts of certain salts present in the liquid phase of certain systems can exert profound effects on equilibrium vapor composition, hence on relative volatility, and on azeotropic behavior. Also extractive and azeotropic distillation is not the only important application for the effects of salts on vapor-liquid equilibrium while used as examples, other potential applications of equal importance exist as well. 

Such complexities tend to explain why progress has been relatively slow, at least until recently, in the formulation of effective relations and techniques for the representation of salt effect in vapor-liquid equilibrium. 

The original equation for salt effect in vapor-liquid equilibrium, proposed by Furter (7) and employed subsequently by Johnson and Furter (8), described the effect of salt concentration on equilibrium vapor composition under the condition of a fixed ratio of the two volatile components in the liquid phase. The equation, derived from the difference in effects of the salt on the chemical potentials of the two volatile components, with simplifying approximations reduces to the form... 

Pure-component properties from which prediction of salt effect in vapor-liquid equilibrium might be sought, include vapor pressure lowering, salt solubility, degree of dissociation and ionic properties (charges and radii) of the salt, polarity, structural geometry, and perhaps others. 

Over the years, various other theories and models have been proposed for predicting salt effect in vapor-liquid equilibrium, including ones based on hydration, internal pressure, electrostatic interaction, and van der Waals forces. These have been reviewed in detail by Long and McDevit (25), Prausnitz and Targovnik (31), Furter (7), Johnson and Furter (8), and Furter and Cook (I). Although the electrostatic theory as modified for mixed solvents has had limited success, no single theory has yet been able to account for or to predict salt effect on equilibrium vapor composition from pure-component properties alone. 

The research programs on extractive distillation by salt effect and on salt effect in vapor-liquid equilibrium at the Royal Military College of Canada are supported by the Defence Research Board of Canada, Grant No. 9530-142. 

A procedure is presented for correlating the effect of non-volatile salts on the vapor-liquid equilibrium properties of binary solvents. The procedure is based on estimating the influence of salt concentration on the infinite dilution activity coefficients of both components in a pseudo-binary solution. The procedure is tested on experimental data for five different salts in methanol-water solutions. With this technique and Wilson parameters determined from the infinite dilution activity coefficients, precise estimates of bubble point temperatures and vapor phase compositions may be obtained over a range of salt and solvent compositions. 

As shown in Figure 12, the precision of the linear fit used to estimate ks varies among the salts tested. However, using these values of ks to estimate the effect of a given salt on vapor-liquid equilibrium appears to give a reasonably good approximation to the vapor-liquid equilibrium behavior. 

A method of prediction of the salt effect of vapor-liquid equilibrium relationships in the methanol-ethyl acetate-calcium chloride system at atmospheric pressure is described. From the determined solubilities it is assumed that methanol forms a preferential solvate of CaCl296CH OH. The preferential solvation number was calculated from the observed values of the salt effect in 14 systems, as a result of which the solvation number showed a linear relationship with respect to the concentration of solvent. With the use of the linear relation the salt effect can be determined from the solvation number of pure solvent and the vapor-liquid equilibrium relations obtained without adding a salt. 

Then, we can obtain the preferential solvation number from the observed values of the salt effect. As the concentration of solvent is decreased by the number of solvated molecules, the actual solvent composition participating in the vapor-liquid equilibrium is changed. Assuming that a salt forms the solvate with the first component, the actual composition X a is given by... 

The establishment of the method of prediction has been attempted by the reverse calculation of the preferential solvation number from measured values, using Equations 4 and 7 which are based on the assumption that the salt effect in the vapor-liquid equilibrium is caused by the preferential solvation formed between a volatile component and a salt. The observed values were selected from Ciparis s data book (4), Hashitani s data (5-8), and the author s data (9-15). S was calculated by Equation 7 when the relative volatility as in the vapor-liquid equilibrium with salt is increased with respect to the relative volatility a in the vapor-liquid equilibrium with salt, but by Equation 4 when as is decreased. The results are shown in Figures 5-12. From these figures, it will be seen that the following three relations exist ... 

Prediction of salt effect. The procedure for calculation of the preferential solvation number S has been described above. By reversing this procedure, that is, by determining xia from S, we can estimate the salt effect using the vapor-liquid equilibrium without a salt. When the salt concentration is below saturation, the preferential solvation number S can be expressed as follows in cases where the solvation is formed with the first component. 

The salt effect is attributable to the formation of preferential solvation from the standpoint of molecular structure. In other words, when calcium chloride, which dissolves readily in methanol but very little in ethyl acetate, was added to the methanol-ethyl acetate system to saturation, calcium chloride formed with methanol the preferential solvate which may be written CaCl2 6CH30H. It was also shown from the observation of solubility that the solvated methanol molecules did not participate in the vapor-liquid equilibrium. 

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