The critical constants of long-chain normal paraffins

Because of the recent availability of the critical constants of normal alkanes up to octadecane, some modifications in the estimation procedures for the critical constants have become necessary. It has been shown that the equation of Ambrose for the critical temperature of normal alkanes leads to the result that as n , the limiting value for the critical temperature is equal to the limiting value for the normal boiling point and the limiting value for the critical pressure is 1 atm. Currently, the CH₂ increment for the critical volume is considered constant. The recent data of Teja have shown that the CH₂ increment increases indefinitely in a homologous series until the critical volume reaches its limiting value. This has made the current procedure for estimating the critical volume obsolete. Taking into account the new measurements of Teja, we have now developed new equations for estimating the critical constants. The limiting values for an infinitely long alkyl chain for T _b, T _c, P _c, and V _c have been found to be 1021 K, 1021 K, 1.01325 bar, and 18618 cm³ · mol^–1, respectively. These new concepts have been applied to the estimation of various properties other than the critical constants.Nomenclature M Molar mass, kg·mol ^–1 - V _c Critical volume, cm³·mol^–1 - V ₁ Saturated liquid volume, cm³·mol^–1 - P _c Critical Pressure, bar - T _c Critical temperature, K - T _b Normal boiling point, K - T _B Boyle temperature, K - T _A Temperature at which the third virial coefficient is zero, K - V _c Limiting value of critical volume = 18,618 cm³ · mol^–1 - P _c Limiting value of critical pressure=1.01325 bar - T _c Limiting value of critical temperature = 1021 K - T _b Limiting value of normal boiling point = 1021 K - P _b Pressure at the normal boiling point, 1 atm - Z _c Critical compressibility factor - Z _c Limiting value for the critical compressibility factor = 0.22222 - R Gas constant, 83.1448×10^–6m³ · bar · K^–1 · mol^–1 - Acentric factor - X (T _c–T _b)/T _c - X ₁ (T _c–T)/T _c - X ₂ 1–(T _B/T)^5/4 - X ₃ 1–(T _A/T)^5/2 - Y P _c/RT _c - Surface tension, mN · m^–1 - B Second virial coefficient, cm³ · mol^–1 - B Limiting value for the second virial coefficient = –30,463 cm³ · mol^–1 - C Third virial coefficient, cm⁶ · mol^–2 - C _b Third virial coefficient at the normal boiling point, cm⁶ · mol^–2 - C _c Third virial coefficient at the critical temperature, cm⁶ · mol^–2 - C _B Third virial coefficient at the Boyle temperature, cm⁶ · mol^–2 - H _vb Enthalpy of vaporization at the normal boiling point, kJ · mol^–1 - n Number of carbon atoms in a homologous series - p Platt number, number of C-C-C-C structural elements - a, b, c, d, e, etc Constants associated with the specific equation - T _c ^* , T _b ^* , P _c ^* , V _c ^* , etc. Dimensionless variables