SOLUBILITIES OF CO AND H2 IN NEAT AND CO2-EXPANDED HYDROFORMYLATION REACTION MIXTURES CONTAINING 1-OCTENE AND NONANAL UP TO 80 °C AND 90 BARS

Abstract

Accurate knowledge of the phase equilibria of CO2-expanded hydroformylation reaction mixtures is essential to rational process design and development. Vapor liquid equilibria of the following systems were measured in a variable volume view cell at temperatures ranging from 40 °C to 80 °C and pressures up to 90 bars: CO/1-octene, CO2/1-octene, CO/1-octene/CO2, CO/nonanal, CO2/nonanal, CO/nonanal/CO2, H2/1-octene, H2/1-octene/CO2, H2/nonanal and H2/nonanal/CO2. The measured solubilities of CO and H2 in the liquid phases were consistent with literature values. The presence of CO2 was found to enhance the solubilities of both CO and H2 in the liquid phase. The enhancement factor is up to 1.54 for carbon monoxide and 1.82 for hydrogen. The Peng-Robinson equation of state (PR EoS) with van der Waals mixing rules and binary interaction parameters modeled the VLE data adequately, with much better fits for the 1-octene systems compared to the more polar nonanal systems.