A D v m T A m s of calculating vaporliquid equilibria in multicomponent systems from data for the pure components and individual binaries are obvious. The relative simplicity of the experimental determination of binary data as contrasted to multicomponent data is a basic advantage. The main value of the calculation method is lost if the data required for its application become excessive or too difficult to obtain.Several types of binary data conveniently furnish activity coefficients and in some cases provide a double check on the data and their thermodynamic consistency. Such binary data are already available for many systems. They are becoming more and more available from measurements of total pressures, boiling points, azeotropic data, relative volatilities, and complete vapor-liquid equilibria. Their efficient use in calculating multicomponent systems is of prime importance.Several methods have been reported for calculating vapor-liquid equilibria. Usually vapor-liquid equilibria are calculated by liquid phase activity coefficients. The Margules (3, 7.9,22,34,45,47,57,69) and van Laar-type (4, 6 , 74, 79, 63-65, 67, 69) equations have frequently been applied to representation of the activity coefficients as a function of composition. Another method uses equations relating directly to liquid composition and relative volatilities, or vapor compositions (72, 73,23,38, 46,60).The objective of this article is to show further application of the modified van Laar-type equations ( 6 ) to the calculation of multicomponent vapor-liquid equilibria based only on data for the pure components and their binary mixtures.
Phase EquilibriaComplete vapor-liquid equilibria in terms of the liquid, x,, the vapor composition, Y,, the total pressure, P, and the temperature, T , provide more than the minimum data required for a check of the thermodynamic consistency. The pressure-temperature relationship a t liquid composition x , and the vapor composition, Y,, at the corresponding x , and T . or P, provides a double check on the consistency of the data. The two are related through the activity coefficient, yt, according toand at, = r t P W r t P P 9 , = Y,x,/x,Y, (2) A method for calculating the imperfection-pressure coefficients, 0, has been described (5). For a nonpolar substance the only basic data needed are critical temperature, T,, critical pressure, P,, and vapor pressure, Po. For a polar substance a minimum of one individual constant is also required. A vapor density a t one or two temperatures can furnish the required individual constants for each polar substance. Except where special "chemical" effects are present, no binary coefficients are required to represent the imperfection-pressure coefficients for the components in the mixtures.The activity coefficients, y's, are functions of temperature and liquid compositions, 2's. While in many systems the qualitative effect of temperature on the activity coefficients is known, exact quantitative values are best derived empirically from data at more than one temperature. For ...