METHOD FOR THE DETERMINATION OF THE SOLUBILITY OF GASES IN LIQUIDS

A rapid and experimentally simple method for the determination of the solubilities of oxygen or hydrogen in liquids is presented The method employs a membrane-enclosed amperometric detector of the well known Clark type to measure the partial pressure of the gas when distributed at equilibrium between the liquid and a gas space for a series of internal volumes of the system. The amounts of all substances and the temperature are maintained constant throughout the series although the internal pressure changes as a result of the volume changes. The glass apparatus is water jacketed for temperature control, has inlet and outlet ports for gas, and the amperometric sensor is mounted in a gas-tight sliding fitting for effecting the volume changes. The liquid content is vigorously stirred by a magnetic bar during measurements. Equations for the interpretation of results at different internal volumes take into account the conservation of the solvent and of the gas, the dependence of the volume of the liquid on the concentration of dissolved gas and Henry's law describing the distribution of the gas between gas and liquid phases at equilibrium. The solution of these equations yields an equation for the dependence of the measured partial pressure on volume, which includes the Henry's law constant H as a parameter. Conditions can usually be arranged to give a straight line dependence of volume on the reciprocal of partial pressure. The method has been applied to several common liquids, and has been shown to produce results which agree with literature solubilities to within about ±5%. Examples which have been studied include oxygen in water (H=4.039 × 106 kPa at 20°C), in acetone (1.25 × 105 kPa at 20°C), in ethanol (1.758 × 105 kPa at 20°C) and in toluene (1.05 × 105 kPa at 20°C) as well as hydrogen in water (6.89 × 106 kPa at 20°C). © 1990.