Modeling the vapor-liquid equilibria of polymer-solvent mixtures: Systems with complex hydrogen bonding behavior

The vapor-liquid equilibria of binary polymer-solvent systems was modeled using the Non-Random Hydrogen Bonding (NRHB) model. Mixtures of poly(ethylene glycol), poly(propylene glycol), poly(vinyl alcohol) and poly(vinyl acetate) with various solvents were investigated, while emphasis was put on hydrogen bonding systems, in which functional groups of the polymer chain can self-associate or cross-associate with the solvent molecules. Effort has been made to explicitly account for all hydrogen bonding interactions. The results reveal that the NRHB model offers a flexible approach to account for various self- or cross-associating interactions. In most cases model's predictions (using no binary interaction parameter k(if) = 0) and model's correlations (using one temperature independent binary interaction parameter, k(ij) not equal 0) are in satisfactory agreement with the experimental data, despite the complexity of the examined systems. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.