Thermodynamic Analysis Of Electrolyte Systems

Thermodynamics cannot yield any information about the intermediate states of a given reacting system. These intermediate states are the subject matter of chemical kinetics, which studies reaction rates and mechanisms. Chemical kinetics will predict what chemicals are present while thermodynamics will predict the limits of distribution of those chemicals in the different phases [1]. The design and analysis of industrial systems usually involve simulating a steady state process by modeling its thermodynamic equilibrium to optimize the operating conditions. Thermodynamic modeling of hydrocarbon systems has been extensively analyzed in literature and textbooks, while phase equilibria of aqueous systems have usually been ignored or briefly mentioned in broad terms. Thermodynamic modeling of electrolyte systems has been gaining momentum recently due to significant developments in a variety of chemical processes involving ionic solutions. The objective of this article is to simplify building thermodynamic models for simulating electrolyte systems. A concise outline of modeling the thermodynamic equilibrium of electrolyte solutions is presented. The outline includes an overview of a number of useful activity-coefficient models as well as a…