Phase Equilibrium in Mixtures

Book excerpt: Phase Equilibrium in Mixtures deals with phase equilibrium and the methods of correlating, checking, and predicting phase data. Topics covered range from latent heat and vapor pressure to dilute solutions, ideal and near-ideal solutions, and consistency tests. Molecular considerations and their use for the prediction and correlation of data are also discussed. Comprised of nine chapters, this volume begins with an introduction to the role of thermodynamics and the criteria for equilibrium between phases, along with fugacity and the thermodynamic functions of mixing. The discussion then turns to some of the phase phenomena which may be encountered in chemical engineering practice; methods of correlating and extending vapor pressure data and practical techniques for calculating latent heats from these data; the behavior of dilute solutions both at low and high pressures for reacting and non-reacting systems; and the behavior of ideal and near-ideal solutions. The remaining chapters explore non-ideal solutions at normal pressures; practical methods for testing the thermodynamic consistency of phase data; and the extent to which the broad aspects of phase behavior may be interpreted in the light of simple molecular considerations. This book is intended primarily for graduate chemical engineers but should also be of interest to those graduates in physics or chemistry who need to use phase equilibrium data.