Document Type

Thesis

Date of Award

5-31-1974

Degree Name

Master of Science in Chemical Engineering - (M.S.)

Department

Chemical Engineering and Chemistry

First Advisor

David Zudkevitch

Second Advisor

Edward Charles Roche, Jr.

Third Advisor

Joseph Joffe

Abstract

Two principal studies were conducted as part of this thesis: evaluation of existing correlations for predicting densities of polar and non-polar liquids and their mixtures and experimentally measuring the densities of certain liquid systems.

Utilizing a modification of the simple picnometer experimental method, data were obtained for both pure compounds and liquid mixtures. Comparison of the pure compound data with available literature sources established the reliability of the technique.

The results of the correlation comparison indicate that the Riedel equation, is the most generally reliable for predicting the densities of pure "normal" compounds. Lydersen, et al., prepared tables for the solution of this equation, however, these have been found to be unreliable for application to compounds with low critical compressibility factors.

By modifying the Riedel equation with the variable third parameter of Joffe and Zudkevitch, its applicability is extended to some non-normal compounds. It was also found to be reliable for many binary systems when used in conjunction with Kay's mixing rule.

Attempts were made to fit the Riedel equation to the data for non-normal compounds by least squares regression. Many of these were successfully fitted indicating that only the choice of constants prevents their being predicted by that equation. Some of these compounds, however, could not be made to conform to the Riedel form (e.g., water, ethanol, and methanol).

Experimentation with different equation forms showed that a more parabolic form was more successful in predicting the behavior of the non-conforming non-normal compounds.

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