Measurement and prediction of high‐pressure phase equilibria with a dilute component in the gas phase: The methane‐n‐hexane system

Abstract

AbstractThe design of vapor recovery processes requires very accurate vapor‐liquid equilibria data. In this work the problem is attacked from both an experimental and a correlational viewpoint, and the methane‐n‐hexane system is chosen for study. A predictive model for vapor‐liquid equilibrium aids in the interpretation of the experimental measurements, and data acquired in this study agree closely with the theoretical predictions. Maximum deviation between calculated and experimental equilibrium ratios (yi/xi) is 8.5% with average absolute deviations of 3% for n‐hexane and 0.1% for methane. Several procedures are described for checking the accuracy of experimental VLE data when a heavy vapor is present at low concentrations in the gas phase. Several potential sources of experimental error are also identified and discussed.