Crossover soft-SAFT modelling of the CO2+NO2/N2O4 mixture

Accurate thermo-physical properties are mandatory for all industrial applications. However, experimental data are often scarce and models are needed for the estimation of properties. Such is the case in supercritical processes like the selective oxidation of vegetal macromolecules in mixture NO2/N2O4 – supercritical CO2 aiming at producing body-degradable polymers readily usable for inside body surgery. The so-called crossover soft-SAFT equation of state is used to model the pure compounds and the mixture. The quadrupolar effect is explicitly considered when modeling carbon dioxide, obtaining excellent agreement for the whole phase equilibrium diagram. NO2 is modeled as a self associating molecule with a single association site. Finally, CO2 and NO2 pure compound parameters are used to predict the vapor – liquid coexistence of the CO2 + NO2 / N2O4 mixture at different temperatures. Experimental pressure – CO2 mass fraction isotherms recently measured are used for comparison. Good agreement is obtained with the use of a unique binary parameter, independent of thermodynamic conditions, although more experimental data would be useful to conclude about the accuracy of the calculation

Un model molecular que perfecciona processos industrials

Aconseguir que un procés industrial sigui òptim, segur i net és una mica complex. Depèn de diversos factors tant externs com els que s'escapen als nostres ulls. Investigadors de la UAB intervenen en aquest nivell i segueixen de prop els fenòmens físico-químics dels materials industrials. En concret, intenten crear un model molecular que prevegi l'activitat del SF6, un gas sintètic de molta utilitat a la indústria.Lograr que un proceso industrial sea óptimo, seguro y limpio es un tanto complejo. Depende de varios factores tanto externos como los que se escapan a nuestros ojos. Investigadores de la UAB intervienen en este nivel y siguen de cerca los fenómenos físico- químicos de los materiales industriales. En concreto, intentan crear un modelo molecular que prevea la actividad del SF6, un gas sintético de mucha utilidad en la industria

Modeling the vapor-liquid equilibrium and association of nitrogen dioxide/dinitrogen tetroxide and its mixtures with carbon dioxide

We have used in this work the crossover soft-SAFT equation of state to model nitrogen dioxide/dinitrogen tetraoxide (NO2/N2O4), carbon dioxide (CO2) and their mixtures. The prediction of the vapor – liquid equilibrium of this mixture is of utmost importance to correctly assess the NO2 monomer amount that is the oxidizing agent of vegetal macromolecules in the CO2 + NO2 / N2O4 reacting medium under supercritical conditions. The quadrupolar effect was explicitly considered when modeling carbon dioxide, enabling to obtain an excellent description of the vapor-liquid equilibria diagrams. NO2 was modeled as a self associating molecule with a single association site to account for the strong associating character of the NO2 molecule. Again, the vapor-liquid equilibrium of NO2 was correctly modeled. The molecular parameters were tested by accurately predicting the very few available experimental data outside the phase equilibrium. Soft-SAFT was also able to predict the degree of dimerization of NO2 (mimicking the real NO2/N2O4 situation), in good agreement with experimental data. Finally, CO2 and NO2 pure compound parameters were used to predict the vapor – liquid coexistence of the CO2 + NO2 / N2O4 mixture at different temperatures. Experimental pressure – CO2 mass fraction isotherms recently measured were well described using a unique binary parameter, independent of the temperature, proving that the soft-SAFT model is able to capture the non-ideal behavior of the mixture

Thermodynamic properties and phase equilibria of branched chain fluids using first- and second-order Wertheim’s thermodynamic perturbation theory

We present an extension of the statistical associating fluid theory (SAFT) for branched chain molecules using Wertheim’s first- and second-order thermodynamic perturbation theory with a hard-sphere reference fluid (SAFT-B). Molecules are formed by hard spherical sites which are tangentially bonded. Linear chains are described as freely jointed monomeric units, whereas branched molecules are modeled as chains with a different number of articulation points, each of them formed by three arms. In order to calculate the vapor–liquid equilibria of the system, we have considered attractive interactions between the segments forming the chain at the mean-field level of van der Waals. The Helmholtz free energy due to the formation of the chain is explicitly separated into two contributions, one accounting for the formation of the articulation tetramer, and a second one due to the formation of the chain arms. The first term is described by the second-order perturbation theory of Phan et al. [J. Chem. Phys. 99, 5326 (1993)], which has been proven to predict the thermodynamic properties of linear chain fluids in a similar manner to Wertheim’s approach. The formation of the chain arms is calculated at Wertheim’s first-order perturbation level. The theory is used to study the effect of the chain architecture on the thermodynamic properties and phase equilibria of chain molecules. The equation predicts the general trends of the compressibility factor and vapor–liquid coexistence curve of the system with the branching degree, in qualitative agreement with molecular simulation results for similar models. Finally, SAFT-B is applied to predict the critical properties of selected light alkanes in order to assess the accuracy of the theory. Experimental trends of the critical temperature of branched alkanes are qualitatively captured by this simple theory.This work was supported by the Spanish Government under Project No. PB96-1025 and VI Plan Propio de Investigación de la Universidad de Huelva. One of the authors (F.J.B.) acknowledges a doctoral fellowship from Comisionat per a Universitats i Recerca from the Generalitat de Catalunya during the course of this wor

Critical behavior and partial miscibility phenomena in binary mixtures of hydrocarbons by the statistical associating fluid theory

Predictions of critical lines and partial miscibility of binary mixtures of hydrocarbons have been made by using a modified version of the statistical associating fluid theory (SAFT). The so-called soft-SAFT equation of state uses the Lennard-Jones potential for the reference fluid, instead of the hard-sphere potential of the original SAFT, accounting explicitly for the repulsive and dispersive forces in the reference term. The mixture behavior is predicted once an adequate set of molecular parameters (segment size, dispersive energy, and chain length) of the pure fluid is available. We use two sets of such parameters. The first set is obtained by fitting to the experimental saturated liquid density and by equating the chemical potential in the liquid and vapor phases for a range of temperatures and pressures. The second set is obtained from the previous one, by rescaling the segment size and dispersive energy to the experimental critical temperature and pressure. Results obtained from the theory with these parameters are compared to experimental results of hydrocarbon binary mixtures. The first set gives only qualitative agreement with experimental critical lines, although the general trend is correctly predicted. The agreement is excellent, however, when soft-SAFT is used with the rescaled molecular parameters, showing the ability of SAFT to quantitatively predict the behavior of mixtures. The equation is also able to predict transitions from complete to partial miscibility in binary mixtures containing methane.It is a pleasure to thank Dr. Allan D. Mackie, Dr. Josep Bonet-A ´ valos and Dr. Jorge Herna ´ ndez-Cobos for helpful discussions. This work was supported by DGICyT ~ PB96- 1025 ! . One of us ~ F.J.B. ! has a doctoral fellowship from Comisionat per a Universitats i Recerca from the Generalitat de Catalunya. The financial support of this fellowship is gratefully acknowledged

Soft-SAFT modeling of vapour liquid equilibria of nitriles and their mixtures

Nitriles are strong polar compounds showing a highly non-ideal behavior, which makes them challenging systems from a modeling point of view; in spite of this, accurate predictions for the vapor-liquid equilibria of these systems are needed, as some of them, like acetonitrile (CH3CN) and propionitrile (C2H5CN), play an important role as organic solvents in several industrial processes. This work deals with the calculation of the vapor - liquid equilibria (VLE) of nitriles and their mixtures by using the crossover soft-SAFT Equation of State (EoS). Both polar and associating interactions are taken into account in a single association term in the crossover soft-SAFT equation, while the crossover term allows for accurate calculations both far from and close to the critical point. Molecular parameters for acetonitrile, propionitrile and n-butyronitrile (C3H7CN) are regressed from experimental data. Their transferability is tested by the calculation of the VLE of heavier linear nitriles, namely, valeronitrile (C4H9CN) and hexanonitrile (C5H11CN), not included in the fitting procedure. Crossover soft-SAFT results are in excellent agreement with experimental data for the whole range of thermodynamic conditions investigated, proving the robustness of the approach. Parameters transferability has also been used to describe the isomers n-butyronitrile and i-butyronitrile. Finally, the nitriles soft-SAFT model is further tested in VLE calculation of mixtures with benzene, carbon tetrachloride and carbon dioxide, which proved to be satisfactory as well

Improved vapor–liquid equilibria predictions for Lennard-Jones chains from the statistical associating fluid dimer theory: Comparison with Monte Carlo simulations

The statistical associating fluid theory (SAFT), with monomer and dimer Lennard-Jones (LJ) reference fluids, is used to predict the phase equilibria of pure chains with different lengths. Predictions from the two versions of the theory are compared with Monte Carlo simulation results taken from the literature. We find that the additional structural information from the dimer version of the theory gives predictions in better agreement with simulation values. It is also found that the dimer version provides a much better description of the vapor pressure than the monomer one for long chains for which simulation data are available

Phase Behavior of strongly associating systems

The modeling of associating fluids has been an active area of research for several decades. Attention has gradually shifted from the so called chemical theories, where molecular association is treated as a chemical reaction, to molecular models where association naturally arises from strong attractive intermolecular forces; among the last ones the Statistical Associating Fluid Theory (SAFT) and related approaches are becoming very popular. We will present calculations performed with the soft-SAFT EoS [F.J. Blas and L.F. Vega, Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 37 (1998) 660-674.] to simulate the equilibrium thermodynamic properties of the acetic acid and the nitriles family (two classes of strongly associating compounds) as well as their mixtures[K. Jackowski and E. Wielogorska, Journal of Molecular Structure355 (1995) 287-290.]. Carboxylic acids form stable double hydrogen bridged dimers which in the gas phase exist in equilibrium with the monomers. Molecular association in liquid phase of the nitriles family is interesting as they are important organic solvents which are soluble in water without any limits. Pure-component molecular parameters are obtained by fitting the equation to available experimental data. The equation enables to search for physical trends, allowing the transferability of the parameters. The complex behavior of these mixtures is also investigated with the same approach