Phase behavior of (CO2 + methanol plus lauric acid) system

In this study the phase equilibrium behaviors of the binary system (CO2 + lauric acid) and the ternary system (CO2 + methanol + lauric acid) were determined. The static synthetic method, using a variable-volume view cell, was employed to obtain the experimental data in the temperature range of (293 to 343) K and pressures up to 24 MPa. The mole fractions of carbon dioxide were varied according to the systems as follows: (0.7524 to 0.9955) for the binary system (CO2 + lauric acid); (0.4616 to 0.9895) for the ternary system (CO2 + methanol + lauric acid) with a methanol to lauric acid molar ratio of (2:1); and (0.3414 to 0.9182) for the system (CO2 + methanol + lauric acid) with a methanol to lauric acid molar ratio of (6:1). For these systems (vapor + liquid), (liquid + liquid), (vapor + liquid + liquid), and (solid + fluid) transitions were observed. The phase equilibrium data obtained for the systems were modeled using the Peng-Robinson equation of state with the classical van der Waals mixing rule with a satisfactory correlation between experimental and calculated values. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.