High-pressure phase equilibria with compressed gases.

An apparatus is described that is capable of determining high-pressure vapor-liquid equilibrium, liquid-liquid equilibrium, solid-liquid-vapor equilibrium, vapor-liquid-liquid equilibrium, and mixture critical points and transitions. The device is capable of temperatures to 150 degrees C and pressures to 300 bars (higher with slight modifications). The construction and operation are described in detail and do not require the use of mercury. This method requires very low sample volumes and no analytical equipment nor system-specific calibration. The apparatus was verified by comparison with literature data for the decane-CO(2) mixture and CO(2)-ionic liquid [1-hexyl-3-methyl-imidazolium bis(trifyl)imide)] systems. The experimental data have excellent agreement with the literature data that used different experimental methods. A rigorous error analysis of the system is also presented.