MULTIPHASE BEHAVIOR IN TERNARY MIXTURES OF ELEVATED PRESSURES.

Separations using supercritical or near-critical fluids as solvents are frequently carried out in the presence of water. Extraction of products from fermentation broths, tertiary oil recovery by CO//2 flooding, and supercritical-fluid chromatography are examples of separations in which water can be present. The authors present the results of an investigation of fluid phase equilibria at elevated pressures for the system isopropanol-water-CO//2. These results include measured equilibrium compositions for two, three, and four coexisting fluid phases over a range of temperatures and pressures in the vicinity of the critical point of CO//2. A computer simulation of the phase equilibria for this three-component system is also presented.