Date of Award

1988

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Chemical Engineering

First Advisor

Edward McLaughlin

Abstract

The research discussed in this dissertation has been divided into two parts. The first portion deals with the classical thermodynamics of compounds that are typically used as model compounds for coal liquids. The bulk of the work has been an experimental study of the solid-liquid solubilities (SLE) for a large number of these compounds in various solvents and a smaller study of the vapor-liquid equilibria (VLE) of some of these systems. The second method is the traditional experimental method for obtaining the activity coefficients which represent the liquid phase nonidealities in a system. The first method is an alternative method for obtaining the same information which, though older than the VLE method, has been largely overlooked by chemical engineers. In this portion of the dissertation, it will be shown that solid-liquid solubility data are a viable source for information on liquid phase nonidealities in these types of systems, which have been somewhat ignored in the literature because of the difficulty associated with VLE experimentation on systems with high relative volatilities. The second portion of the dissertation is a discussion of work done to investigate the applicability of statistical mechanics to the prediction of liquid phase nonidealities in complex systems like these. Because the present state-of-the-art has not yet progressed to the level needed, the work presented is concerned mostly with additions to that art (improvements in the tools available). The directions for future research in this area needed to apply these statistical mechanical methods to the type of system studied in part A are discussed.

Pages

408

DOI

10.31390/gradschool_disstheses.4629

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