Liquid-Liquid Equilibria

While a satisfactory description of liquid-vapour equilibria in binary and multi-component systems had been developed by the end of the fifties, a similar situation has only been attained for liquid-liquid equilibria in the last ten years. There are several reasons for this, the most important of which is the necessity to employ more complex thermodynamic models for a quantitative description of liquid-liquid equilibria. These models require very sophisticated calculation techniques that cannot be carried out without the assistance of a computer. The authors have attempted to provide a theoretical description of liquid-liquid equilibria at a level permitting routine chemical engineering applications similar to those common for liquid-vapour equilibria. Consequently, a great deal of attention is paid to the calculation of parameters for heterogeneous and homogeneous binary systems, and to the qualitative evaluation of the suitability of the most frequently used thermodynamic models.
 
While a satisfactory description of liquid-vapour equilibria in binary and multi-component systems had been developed by the end of the fifties, a similar situation has only been attained for liquid-liquid equilibria in the last ten years. There are several reasons for this, the most important of which is the necessity to employ more complex thermodynamic models for a quantitative description of liquid-liquid equilibria. These models require very sophisticated calculation techniques that cannot be carried out without the assistance of a computer. The authors have attempted to provide a theoretical description of liquid-liquid equilibria at a level permitting routine chemical engineering applications similar to those common for liquid-vapour equilibria. Consequently, a great deal of attention is paid to the calculation of parameters for heterogeneous and homogeneous binary systems, and to the qualitative evaluation of the suitability of the most frequently used thermodynamic models.