Measurement and Prediction of Vapor Pressure for H2O+CH3OH/C2H5OH+[BMIM][DBP] Ternary Working Fluids

Abstract

The ionic liquid, 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium dibutylphosphate ([BMIM][DBP]) was prepared and the vapor pressures of three set of binary solutions H2O(1)/CH3OH(1)/C2H5OH(1)+[BMIM][DBP](2) were measured at different temperature and in the ILs mole fraction range from 0.1 to 0.6 with a static equilibrium apparatus. The measured vapor pressures were correlated with Non-Random Two Liquid (NRTL) activity coefficient model and the average relative deviations (ARD) between experimental and correlated vapor pressures for these binary solutions were 3.19%, 2.42% and 2.95%, respectively. Then, the vapor pressures of two set of ternary solutions H2O(1)+CH3OH(2)/C2H5OH(2)+[BMIM][DBP](3) were measured with an inclined boiling apparatus and further predicted with NRTL activity coefficient model based on the binary interaction parameters coming from fitting the vapor pressures of the binary solutions. The results indicated that the ternary solutions containing [BMIM][DBP] were shown a strong negative deviation from Raoult's Law when the mole fraction of [BMIM][DBP] was larger than 0.2, which meant that ternary solutions could absorb the refrigerant vapors at the same or below solution temperature. Meanwhile, the average relative deviations between experimental and predicted vapor pressures for ternary solutions were 2.92% and 3.06%, respectively. Consequently, the NRTL active coefficient model used for non-electrolyte solutions was still valid for predicting vapor-liquid equilibrium of binary or ternary solutions containing ILs.