INTRODUCTIONCompositions of coexisting fluids at elevated pressure-temperature conditions can be calculated by applying thermodynamics as in any other chemical equilibrium. This calculation requires the evaluation of the thermodynamic properties of the phase components i at the respective pressure P, temperature T, and the individual abundances x i , i.e. composition. In comparison with solids, fluids normally have distinct PVT-behaviors. Furthermore, because of their disordered state and the relatively weak bonding between molecules, fluid species mix much more easily than solid-phase components. The evaluation of the thermodynamic properties of fluids requires, therefore, special treatment and procedures that differ significantly from those used for solids. For fluids, this treatment includes a distinct and different standard state than for solids and a special description of the volume V as a function of P, T (or P as a function of V and T) and x i , i.e. an equation of state (EOS).
PRINCIPLESFor geological systems, which are usually defined by the variables P and T, the Gibbs free energy G is the function of choice to describe equilibria. At constant P and T the chemical equilibrium condition is defined by (the Table 1 lists the symbols used):The partial derivative of G with respect to P is the volume VTherefore, the pressure-dependence of G is obtained by integration of Equation (2) with boundaries from the reference pressure P r , i.e. ambient pressure of 0.1 MPa, to the required P G (P,T ) = G (P r ,T ) + VdP For solids using the standard state of a pure phase component at reference conditions P r and T r , (i.e. 0.1 MPa, 298 K) integration over P leads to,where h i o and s i o are the molar enthalpy and entropy at P r and T, v i o the molar volume as a function of P at T of the pure phase component i, and a i is its activity, which also incorporates in this case any volume effects of mixing.However, for fluids the standard state is defined differently, and Equation (5) is not used in this form. The principal thermodynamic equations are rearranged in such a way that, at the standard state, the properties of a pure fluid are taken as if this fluid would behave like an ideal gas. For fluids, the standard state is, therefore, that of a hypothetical ideal gas at P r at any required temperature T. The use of this standard state leads to the following expression,in which the asterisk denotes the hypothetical ideal gas standard state properties. Details of the derivation of Equation (6), and Equation (11) in the following, can be found for example in Beattie (1955) or in Appendix A.The integral term in Equation (6) provides the definition of the fugacity coefficientThus Equation (6) can be written asand with definition of the fugacity f i m 1 The term phase component is used as a synonym for a endmember of a solution, i.e. for fluids specific species or molecules, whereas the term component is used in the classic thermodynamical sense.2 The lower integration boundary is strictly 0 MPa and not just some low pre...