Experimental Evidence for Double Quaternary Azeotropy’s Existence

Abstract

The phase equilibrium in an acetonitrile + water + cyclohexene + chloroform system was studied at 101.3 kPa. A prediction regarding the internal structure of the composition tetrahedron (presence/absence of one/two internal singular points) was made using thermodynamic modeling in AspenPlus V.10.0. The existence of two internal quaternary azeotropes (of node type with a minimum boiling point and of saddle type) was confirmed as a result of a full-scale experiment. Thermodynamic-topological analysis of the structure of phase equilibrium diagrams was carried out to confirm the correctness of the diagram construction.

Keywords

• double azeotropy
• phase diagram
• vapor‒liquid equilibrium
• quaternary system
• singular points
• azeotropy rule