Journal of Chemical Thermodynamics, Vol.48, 260-266, 2012
Application of the mass-based UNIQUAC model to membrane systems: A critical revision
The UNIQUAC model is very suitable in describing (liquid + liquid) as well as (vapor + liquid) equilibrium for a wide range of systems. It can be extended to (solvent + polymer) systems for describing sorption equilibria. The original model is expressed in molar-based terms, but requires knowledge of structural parameters and molar masses of all components. Since these cannot always be easily determined for membranes, a conversion to mass-based terms is often performed, which eliminates this issue. Many studies use this model to calculate sorption equilibria in (solvent + polymer) systems. Nevertheless, in this work the conversion from molar to mass-based parameters is postulated to be erroneous. This even leads to an incorrect description of simple (vapor + liquid) equilibrium of pure liquid mixtures and hence it is advised not to use this model for further modeling of sorption equilibrium in (solvent + polymer) systems. In this paper, the errors in the conversion are pinpointed, and the effects it can have on the description of (vapor + liquid) equilibrium, if used improvident, are demonstrated. Furthermore, it is shown that in fact a simple and straightforward conversion can be performed. Finally, in the case when polymers are involved, an adaption and simplification to the model was successfully applied. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.