Classification of global fluid-phase equilibrium behaviors in binary systems

The study of phase equilibria is one of the most important sources of information about the nature of intermolecular forces in liquids and their mixtures and is of the highest importance for designing and optimizing processes. Many of the main features of vapor-liquid and liquid-liquid phase behavior were well characterized experimentally during the early part of the 20th century, and many equations of state were developed to reproduce the many types of phase diagrams observed for binary systems. In spite of the quasi-infinite number of possible configurations and rearrangements of fluid-fluid equilibrium phase diagrams, this paper presents a near-exhaustive classification scheme of fluid phase equilibria in binary systems. It starts from the one proposed by Van Konynenburg and Scott and brings it up-to-date by detailing the progress carried out on this topic since their classification. scheme was first proposed. The second part of this paper is devoted to describing the transitions between the various types of systems. (C) 2013 The Institution of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.