Experimental measurement and model based inferencing of solubility of polyethylene in xylene

Solubility of polyethylene in mixed xylene was determined experimentally under atmospheric pressure by an indigenously developed laser based technique. In this work, a PC-SAFT equation of state was used to model solid-liquid equilibrium (SLE). With the experimental SLE data available in the literature for low molecular weight n-alkanes and aromatic compounds under atmospheric pressure, the suitability of the developed SLE model based on the PC-SAFT equation of state was tested. Subsequently a sensitivity study was performed to understand the effects of different parameters that affect the solubility of polyethylene. The validated model was then used to correlate the experimentally determined solubility data for the polyethylene system.