Solid-fluid phase equilibria measurement for mixtures of Methane, Carbon-dioxide and n-Hexadecane

In this study, new experimental data using a reliable approach are reported for solid-fluid phase equilibrium of ternary mixtures of Methane-Carbon-dioxide- n-Hexadecane for 30-73 mol% CO₂ and pressures up to 24 MPa. The effect of varying CO₂ composition on the overall phase transition of the systems were investigated. Three thermodynamic models were used to predict the liquid phase fugacity, this includes the Peng Robison equation of state (PR-EoS), Soave Redlich-Kwong equation of state (SRK-EoS) and the Cubic plus Association (CPA) equation of state with the classical mixing rule and a group contribution approach for calculating binary interaction parameters in all cases. To describe the wax (solid) phase, three activity coefficient models based on the solid solution theory were investigated: the predictive universal quasichemical activity coefficients (UNIQUAC), Universal quasi-chemical Functional Group activity coefficients (UNIFAC) and the predictive Wilson approach. The solid-fluid equilibria experimental data gathered in this experimental work including those from saturated and under-saturated conditions were used to check the reliability of the various phase equilibria thermodynamic models.