Extension of the exp-6 model to the simulation of vapor-liquid equilibria of primary alcohols and their mixtures

Configurational-biased Gibbs ensemble Monte Carlo simulations were performed to obtain the phase behavior of the homologous series of primary alcohols from ethanol to 1-heptanol. Molecular interactions in these systems are modeled by a newly developed exp-6 potential in combination with a Coulombic intermolecular potential. Some of exp-6 potential parameters required to describe these alcohols were taken from the previous literature data reported for methanol and n-alkanes. The oxygen's potential parameters were optimized to fit the coexistence curve of these alcohols to the experimental data. Simulated values of saturated liquid and vapor densities, vapor pressures and critical constants of the alcohols are in good agreement with experimental data. The efficiency of the new model in the prediction of binary phase diagram of water/ethanol and n-hexane/1-propanol mixtures is also evaluated. The calculated mole fractions in the vapor and liquid phases of these binary mixtures also show satisfactory agreement with the experimental data.     

Critical and phase-equilibrium properties of an ab initio based potential model of methanol and 1-propanol using two-phase molecular dynamics simulations

Two-phase molecular dynamics simulations employing a Monte Carlo volume sampling method were performed using an ab initio based force field model parameterized to reproduce quantum-mechanical dimer energies for methanol and 1-propanol at temperatures approaching the critical temperature. The intermolecular potential models were used to obtain the binodal vapor-liquid phase dome at temperatures to within about 10 K of the critical temperature. The efficacy of two all-atom, site-site pair potential models, developed solely from the energy landscape obtained from high-level ab initio pair interactions, was tested for the first time. The first model was regressed from the ab initio landscape without point charges using a modified Morse potential to model the complete interactions; the second model included point charges to separate Coulombic and dispersion interactions. Both models produced equivalent phase domes and critical loci. The model results for the critical temperature, density, and pressure, in addition to the sub-critical equilibrium vapor and liquid densities and vapor pressures, are compared to experimental data. The model's critical temperature for methanol is 77 K too high while that for 1-propanol is 80 K too low, but the critical densities are in good agreement. These differences are likely attributable to the lack of multi-body interactions in the true pair potential models used here.     

Phase compositions and saturated densities for the binary systems of carbon dioxide with ethanol and dichloromethane

The compositions and densities of the liquid and vapor phases of two binary systems at equilibrium were measured on a new experimental apparatus over a range of temperatures and pressures. The studied systems are: CO₂–ethanol at 313.2 and 328.2 K; CO₂–dichloromethane at 308.2, 318.2 and 328.2 K and for pressures ranging from ambient up to ca. 9 MPa. Some of our measurements are critically compared with corresponding literature values. These measurements are ideally suited for testing equation-of-state models. The recently developed quasi-chemical hydrogen-bonding (QCHB) model was used for correlating the experimental data. A satisfactory agreement was obtained between experimental and calculated phase compositions and saturated densities.     

Structure, thermodynamics, and liquid-vapor equilibrium of ethanol from molecular-dynamics simulations using nonadditive interactions

We present a molecular-dynamics simulation study of the bulk and liquid-vapor interfacial properties of ethanol using a polarizable force field based on the fluctuating charge (FQ) formalism, as well as the nonpolarizable CHARMM22 force field. Both models are competitive with respect to the prediction of ambient liquid properties such as liquid density, enthalpy of vaporization, dielectric constant, and self-diffusion constants. The polarizable model predicts an average condensed-phase dipole moment of 2.2 D associated with an induced liquid-phase dipole moment of 0.6 D; though qualitatively in agreement with earlier nonadditive models as well as recent Car-Parinello calculations, the current FQ model underestimates the condensed-phase dipole moment. In terms of liquid structure, both models are in agreement with recent neutron-diffraction results of liquid ethanol structure, although the polarizable model predicts the hydroxyl-hydrogen-hydroxyl-hydrogen structure factor in closer agreement with the experimental data. In terms of interfacial properties, both models predict ambient surface tension to within 4% of the experimental value of 22.8 dyncm, while overestimating the surface excess entropy by almost a factor of 2. Both models display the characteristic preferential orientation of interfacial molecules. The polarizable model allows for a monotonic variation of the average molecular dipole moment from the bulk value to that of the vapor phase. Consequently, there is a dramatic difference in the surface potential predicted by the polarizable and nonpolarizable models. The polarizable model estimates a surface potential of -209+/-3 mV, while the nonpolarizable model yields a value of -944+/-10 mV. Finally, based on the vapor-liquid equilibrium simulation data from several temperatures, we estimate the critical properties of both models. As observed with other FQ models for associating fluids (such as water and methanol), and counter to what one would anticipate by modeling more physically the electrostatic response to local environment, the current FQ model underestimates the critical temperature and overestimates the critical density of ethanol; moreover, the FQ model is, in this respect, equivalent to the underlying fixed-charge model. These results further suggest the need to revisit polarizable models in terms of quantitative vapor-liquid equilibrium prediction.     

A new cubic equation of state for reservoir fluids

A new three-parameter cubic equation of state is developed with special attention to the application for reservoir fluids. One parameter is taken temperature dependent and others are held constant. The EOS parameters were evaluated by minimizing saturated liquid density deviation from experimental values and satisfying the equilibrium condition of equality of fugacities simultaneously. Then, these parameters were fitted against reduced temperature and Pitzer acentric factor. For calculating the thermodynamic properties of a pure component, this equation of state requires the critical temperature, the critical pressure, the acentric factor and the experimental critical compressibility of the substance. Using this equation of state, saturated liquid density, saturated vapor density and vapor pressure of pure components, especially near the critical point, are calculated accurately. The average absolute deviations of the predicted saturated liquid density, saturated vapor density and vapor pressure of pure components are 1.4%, 1.19% and 2.11%, respectively. Some thermodynamic properties of substances have also been predicted in this work.     

Experimental studies on a mixture of HFC-32/125/161 as an alternative refrigerant to HCFC-22 in the presence of polyol ester

In this work, experiment was conducted to examine the thermo-physical properties of an alternative refrigerant to HCFC-22 in the presence of polyol ester (POE). The new alternative refrigerant is a mixture of HFC-32/125/161, whose physical properties are similar to HCFC-22 but has a lower global warming potential (GWP) than that of R407C. POE is used as the tested lubricating oil in the experiment. The saturated vapor pressure data and vapor–liquid equilibrium data of nine different mass fractions of the new refrigerant and polyol ester (POE) in the temperature range of 253–323 K were measured by single-phase cycle method. The experiment results showed that there was no stratification, no sediment generation in the liquid phase of the mixture, and the color of liquid phase of the mixture had no change in the equilibrium cell before and after the experiment with the POE concentration greater than 20% and the temperature higher than 258 K; with POE concentration lower than 20% and temperature lower than 258 K, stratification began to appear. Meanwhile, when POE and the refrigerant were miscible, the saturated pressure data of the mixture (HFC-32/125/161 + POE) revealed that POE had a very small impact on saturated vapor pressure of the mixture (almost negligible) when POE was less than 10% of the mixture; POE has an obvious effect on the saturated vapor pressure of the mixture when there is more than 10% POE in the mixture, especially when the temperature is higher than 283.15 K. Experimental data were correlated by Flory–Huggins model, Heil model, NRTL model and Wilson model. The results showed that to the average and maximum pressure deviation, the results were better with considering the effects of temperature on the energy parameters. Among the above models, the NRTL activity coefficient model was the best, the Heil and Wilson models followed and the Flory–Huggins model had the largest deviation from the experimental data.     

Henry’s law constants of methane,nitrogen, oxygen and carbon dioxide in ethanol from 273 to 498 K: Prediction from molecular simulation

Henry’s law constants of the solutes methane, nitrogen, oxygen and carbon dioxide in the solvent ethanol are predicted by molecular simulation. The molecular models for the solutes are taken from previous work. For the solvent ethanol, a new rigid anisotropic united atom molecular model based on Lennard–Jones and coulombic interactions is developed. It is adjusted to experimental pure component saturated liquid density and vapor pressure data. Henry’s law constants are calculated by evaluating the infinite dilution residual chemical potentials of the solutes from 273 to 498 K with Widom’s test particle insertion. The prediction of Henry’s law constants without the use of binary experimental data on the basis of the Lorentz–Berthelot combining rule agree well with experimental data, deviations are 20%, except for carbon dioxide for which deviations of 70% are reached. Quantitative agreement is achieved by using the modified Lorentz–Berthelot combining rule which is adjusted to one experimental mixture data point.     

Isothermal vapor–liquid equilibria for mixtures composed of 1,2-dimethoxybenzene, 2-methoxyphenol,and diphenylmethane

Diphenylmethane was found to be a potential entrainer for separating the closely boiling mixtures of 2-methoxyphenol+1,2-dimethoxybenzene via extractive distillation. To gain insight into the capability of this auxiliary agent, isothermal vapor–liquid equilibrium data were measured for the binary and the ternary mixtures containing 2-methoxyphenol, 1,2-dimethoxybenzene, and diphenylmethane at temperatures from 433.15 to 463.15 K. All the binary data passed thermodynamic consistency tests. However, there exhibits a large discrepancy between the experimental values and the predicted results from the UNIFAC model. The new data were correlated with the Wilson, the NRTL, and the UNIQUAC models, respectively. The model parameters determined from the binary data were applied to predict the phase equilibrium behavior of the ternary system.     

Direct Insight into the Three‐Dimensional Internal Morphology of Solid–Liquid–Vapor Interfaces at Microscale

Solid–liquid–vapor interfaces dominated by the three‐phase contact line, usually performing as the active center in reactions, are important in biological and industrial processes. In this contribution, we provide direct three‐dimensional (3D) experimental evidence for the inside morphology of interfaces with either Cassie or Wenzel states at micron level using X‐ray micro‐computed tomography, which allows us to accurately “see inside” the morphological structures and quantitatively visualize their internal 3D fine structures and phases in intact samples. Furthermore, the in‐depth measurements revealed that the liquid randomly and partly located on the top of protrusions on the natural and artificial superhydrophobic surfaces in Cassie regime, resulting from thermodynamically optimal minimization of the surface energy. These new findings are useful for the optimization of classical wetting theories and models, which should promote the surface scientific and technological developments.     

Vapor–liquid equilibria in the binary system (−)-beta-pinene + (+)-fenchone: Analysis in terms of group contributions models of some binary systems containing terpenoids

Isobaric vapor–liquid equilibrium measurements are reported for the binary system (−)-beta-pinene + (+)-fenchone at the constant pressure of 13.33 kPa in the temperature range from 341.60 K to 393.25 K. The boiling temperatures of the mixtures were also measured at seven constant compositions in the pressure range from 2.56 kPa to 20.80 kPa. The experimental data were found to be thermodynamically consistent. Reduction of the vapor–liquid equilibrium data was carried out by means of the Wilson, NRTL and UNIQUAC equations. Our data on vapor–liquid equilibria for mixtures containing terpenoids are examined in terms of the DISQUAC and modified UNIFAC (Dortmund) group contributions models. Interaction parameters of the DISQUAC model are reported.     

The gaseous enthalpy of formation of the ionic liquid 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium dicyanamide from combustion calorimetry, vapor pressure measurements, and ab initio calculations

Ionic liquids are attracting growing interest as alternatives to conventional molecular solvents. Experimental values of vapor pressure, enthalpy of vaporization, and enthalpy of formation of ionic liquids are the key thermodynamic quantities, which are required for the validation and development of the molecular modeling and ab initio methods toward this new class of solvents. In this work, the molar enthalpy of formation of the liquid 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium dicyanamide, 206.2 +/- 2.5 kJ.mol-1, was measured by means of combustion calorimetry. The molar enthalpy of vaporization of 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium dicyanamide, 157.2 +/- 1.1 kJ.mol-1, was obtained from the temperature dependence of the vapor pressure measured using the transpiration method. The latter method has been checked with measurements of 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl) imide, where data are available from the effusion technique. The first experimental determination of the gaseous enthalpy of formation of the ionic liquid 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium dicyanamide, 363.4 +/- 2.7 kJ.mol-1, from thermochemical measurements (combustion and transpiration) is presented. Ab initio calculations of the enthalpy of formation in the gaseous phase have been performed for 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium dicyanamide using the G3MP2 theory. Excellent agreement with experimental results has been observed. The method developed opens a new way to obtain thermodynamic properties of ionic liquids which have not been available so far.     

Equation of state for square-well chain molecules with variable range. I: Application for pure substances

An equation of state (EOS) for square-well chain molecules with variable range developed on the basis of statistical mechanics for chemical association in our previous work is employed for the calculations of pVT properties and vapor–liquid equilibria (VLE) of pure non-associating fluids. The molecular parameters for 73 normal substances and 46 polymers are obtained from saturated vapor pressure and liquid molar volume data for normal fluids or pVT data for polymers. Linear relations are found for the molecular parameters of normal fluids with their molecular weight of homologous compounds. This indicates that the model parameters of homologous series, subsequently pVT and VLE, can be predicted when experimental data are not available. The predicted saturated vapor pressures and/or liquid volumes are satisfactory through the generalized model parameters. The calculated VLE and pVT for normal fluids and polymers by this EOS are compared with those from other engineering models, respectively.     

Reliable phase stability analysis for asymmetric models

A deterministic technique for reliable phase stability analysis is described for the case in which asymmetric modeling (different models for vapor and liquid phases) is used. In comparison to the symmetric modeling case, the use of multiple thermodynamic models in the asymmetric case adds an additional layer of complexity to the phase stability problem. To deal with this additional complexity we formulate the phase stability problem in terms of a new type of tangent plane distance function, which uses a binary variable to account for the presence of different liquid and vapor phase models. To then solve the problem deterministically, we use an approach based on interval analysis, which provides a mathematical and computational guarantee that the phase stability problem is correctly solved, and that thus the global minimum in the total Gibbs energy is found in the phase equilibrium problem. The new methodology is tested using several examples, involving as many as eight components, with NRTL as the liquid phase model and a cubic equation of state as the vapor phase model. In two cases, published phase equilibrium computations were found to be incorrect (not stable).     

Vapor+liquid equilibrium of water, carbon dioxide, and the binary system, water+carbon dioxide, from molecular simulation

NVT- and NpT-Gibbs ensemble Monte Carlo (GEMC) simulations were applied to describe the vapor–liquid equilibrium of water (between 323 and 573 K), carbon dioxide (between 230 and 290 K) and their binary mixtures (between 348 and 393 K). The properties of supercritical carbon dioxide were determined between 310 and 520 K by NpT-MC simulations. Literature data for the effective pair potentials (for water: the SPC-, SPC/E-, and TIP4P potential models; for carbon dioxide: the EPM2 potential model) were used to describe the properties of the pure substances. The vapor pressures of water and carbon dioxide are calculated. For water, the SPC- and TIP4P models give superior results for the vapor pressure when compared to the SPC/E model. The vapor–liquid equilibrium of the binary mixture, carbon dioxide–water, was predicted using the SPC- as well as the TIP4P model for water and the EPM2 model for carbon dioxide. The interactions between carbon dioxide and water were estimated from the pair potentials of the pure components using common mixing rules without any adjustable binary parameter. Agreement of the predicted data for the compositions of the coexisting phases in vapor–liquid equilibrium and experimental results is observed within the statistical uncertainties of the simulation results in the investigated range of state, i.e. at pressures up to about 20 MPa.     

Molecular models for 267 binary mixtures validated by vapor–liquid equilibria: A systematic approach

By assessing a large number of binary systems, it is shown that molecular modeling is a reliable and robust route to vapor–liquid equilibria (VLE) of mixtures. A set of simple molecular models for 78 pure substances from prior work is taken to systematically describe all 267 binary mixtures of these components for which relevant experimental VLE data is available. The mixture models are based on the modified Lorentz–Berthelot combining rule. Per binary system, one state independent binary interaction parameter in the energy term is adjusted to a single experimental vapor pressure. The unlike energy parameter is altered usually by less than 5% from the Berthelot rule. The mixture models are validated regarding the vapor pressure at other state points and also regarding the dew point composition, which is a fully predictive property in this work. In almost all cases, the molecular models give excellent predictions of the mixture properties.     

Surface properties of the polarizable Baranyai-Kiss water model

The water surface properties using the Baranyai-Kiss (BK) model [A. Baranyai and P. T. Kiss, J. Chem. Phys. 133, 144109 (2010)] are studied by molecular dynamics simulation, and compared to popular rigid water potentials, namely to the extended simple point charge (SPC/E) and the transferable interaction potential with 4 points (TIP4P) models. The BK potential is a polarizable model of water with three Gaussian charges. The negative charge is connected to its field-free position by a classical harmonic spring, and mechanical equilibrium is established between this spring force and the force due to the charge distribution of the system. The aim of this study is, on the one hand, to test the surface properties of the new model, and on the other hand, to identify differences between the models listed above. The obtained results reveal that the BK model reproduces very well a number of properties corresponding to liquid-vapor equilibrium, such as the coexisting liquid and vapor densities, saturated vapor pressure or surface tension. Further, this model reproduces excellently the critical point of water even in comparison with a large number of widely used polarizable and nonpolarizable models. The structural properties of the liquid surface of BK water turns out to be very similar to that of the SPC/E model, while the surface of TIP4P water is found to be somewhat less ordered. This finding is related to the fact that the critical temperature of the TIP4P model is lower than that of either SPC/E or BK.     

Water simulation model with explicit three-molecule interactions

Much effort has been directed at developing models for the computer simulation of liquid water. The simplest models involve effective two-molecule interactions, parametrized from experiment, for use in classical molecular dynamics simulations. These models have been very successful in describing the structure and dynamics of liquid water at room temperature and one atmosphere pressure. A completely successful model, however, should be robust enough to describe the properties of liquid water at other thermodynamic points, water's complicated phase diagram, heterogeneous situations like the liquid/vapor interface, ionic, and other aqueous solutions, and confined and biological water. In this paper, we develop a new classical simulation model with explicit three-molecule interactions. These interactions presumably make the model more robust in the senses described above, and since they are short-ranged, the model is efficient to simulate. The model is formulated as a perturbation from a classical two-molecule interaction model, where the forms of the correction to the two-molecule term and the three-molecule terms result from electronic structure calculations on dimers and trimers. The magnitudes of these perturbations, however, are determined empirically. The resulting model improves upon the well-known two-molecule interaction models for both static and dynamic properties.     

气相色谱端值法测定稀溶液的气液平衡

本文提出了一种由气相色谱测定的γ_1~(∞)和(dln γ_1/dx_1)x_1→∞推算稀溶液气液平衡的方法。经较严格的推导, 得到(dlnγ_1/dx_1)x_1→∞的新测定公式; 与现有公式比较, 本文式更严格、具一般性,也更易于应用。将所得公式用于确定稀溶液活度系数模型参数, 进而推算气液平衡, 与直接测定值相比较, 得到了满意的结果。     

Effect of flexibility on surface tension and coexisting densities of water

Molecular dynamics simulations of pure water at the liquid-vapor interface are performed using direct simulation of interfaces in a liquid slab geometry. The effect of intramolecular flexibility on coexisting densities and surface tension is analyzed. The dipole moment profile across the liquid-vapor interface shows different values for the liquid and vapor phases. The flexible model is a polarizable model. This effect is minor for liquid densities and is large for surface tension. The liquid densities increase from 2% at 300 K to 9% at 550 K when the force field is changed from a fully rigid simple point charge extended (SPCE) model to that of a fully flexible model with the same intermolecular interaction parameters. The increases in surface tension at both temperatures are around 11% and 36%, respectively. The calculated properties of the flexible models are closer to the experimental data than those of the rigid SPCE. The effect of the maximum number of reciprocal vectors (h(z) (max)) and the surface area on the calculated properties at 300 K is also analyzed. The coexiting densities are not sensitive to those variables. The surface tension fluctuates with h(z) (max) with an amplitude larger than 10 mN m(-1). The effect of using small interfacial areas is slightly larger than the error in the simulations.