High-pressure phase equilibria of systems carbon dioxide + n-eicosane and propane + n-eicosane

Abstract

In this work we investigated the phase equilibrium behavior of the binary asymmetric systems propane (C3) + n-eicosane (C20) and carbon dioxide (CO 2) + n-eicosane (C20). We used a variable-volume view cell for obtaining fluid–fluid equilibrium (FFE), solid–fluid equilibrium (SFE) and solid–fluid–fluid equilibrium (SFFE) experimental data. We modeled the phase equilibria of both systems using the Peng–Robinson Equation of State for describing the fluid phases and an expression for the fugacity of pure solid n-eicosane with parameters fit to reproduce the pure n-eicosane melting line. We performed the phase equilibrium calculations by implementing path-following methods for tracking entire solid–fluid (SF) and solid–fluid–fluid (SFF) equilibrium curves for binary asymmetric mixtures. This made it possible to obtain complete isoplethic lines or complete three-phase equilibrium lines in single runs. Although the model is relatively simple, it is able to grasp the complex observed behavior for the systems studied here.