Correlation of Activity Coefficients in Aqueous Solutions of Ammonium Salts Using Local Composition Models and Stochastic Optimization Methods

Abstract

In this study, several local composition models and stochastic optimization methods have been used and compared in data fitting of activity coefficients in aqueous electrolytes. We have utilized the electrolyte-NRTL model of Chen et al. and the modified Wilson models proposed by Xu and Macedo, and Zhao et al. to fit the activity coefficients of several quaternary ammonium salts in water at 25°C. These electrolytes have interesting properties for their application as ionic liquids. However, the modeling of their thermodynamic behavior using local composition models is a global optimization problem. In this study, several stochastic optimization methods have been used to solve this optimization problem and their numerical performances have been compared. Specifically, we have tested the classical Simulated Annealing and the hybrid methods: Direct Search Simulated Annealing, Simplex Coding Genetic Algorithm, Simulated Annealing Heuristic Pattern Search, and Directed Tabu Search. Our results show that Simulated Annealing is a suitable tool for data fitting of the activity coefficients of aqueous electrolytes. Finally, the tested models can satisfactorily correlate the mean activity coefficients of electrolytes treated in this study, and are suitable for process design.