a Molecular Approach to Electrolyte Solutions: Predicting Phase Behavior and Thermodynamic Properties of Single and Binary-Solvent Systems

A molecular formulation based on modern liquid state theory is applied to the properties and phase behavior of electrolyte systems containing volatile species. An electrolyte model based on the exponential modification of the Mean Spherical Approximation (EXP-MSA) is used to describe the cation-cation, cation-anion, and anion-anion distributions of the ionic species. This theory represents an improvement over the nonmodified MSA approach, and goes beyond the usual Debye-Huckel theory and Pitzer correlation for treating concentrated solutions. Electrolyte solutions such as water-salt, ammonia-salt, mixed salts, and mixed -solvent systems are investigated over a wide range of temperatures, pressures, and compositions. The usual salt properties, such as osmotic and mean activity coefficients and other thermodynamic properties (enthalpies), are calculated. The predictions are accurate to saturation limits. In addition, an iterative method is presented that is used to predict vapor-liquid equilibria (VLE) and thermodynamic properties of single-salt multisolvent electrolytes of the form solvent-cosolvent-salt. In this method, a local composition model (LCM) and EXP-MSA theory are combined with traditional phase equilibria relations to estimate the pressures and compositions of a vapor phase in equilibrium with a binary-solvent electrolyte. Also, a pseudo-solvent model is proposed as a means of obtaining a variety of averaged liquid phase electrolyte properties. To predict preferential solvation in mixed solvents, a general framework is developed that is based on predicted solvation numbers of each solvent. Preferential solvation will be shown to influence VLE. Results show that phase equilibria is accurately predicted by the above iterative method. Three mixed-solvent electrolyte systems are investigated: water -ethylene glycol-LiBr, ammonia-water-LiBr, and methanol -water-LiCl. Finally, the above electrolyte model is utilized in predicting design criteria for a single-effect absorption cooling cycle.