Vapor-liquid-liquid equilibria of pentafluoroethane and ionic liquid [bmim][PF6] mixtures studied with the volumetric method.

In this article, we investigate vapor-liquid-liquid equilibria (VLLE) of binary systems using a simple volumetric method. Being different from the usual cloud-point method for the determination of liquid-liquid separation boundaries, the present volumetric method is able to determine the direct VLLE properties, such as equilibrium compositions, as well as molar volumes of the two liquid phases, by measuring only weights and volumes of liquid samples. The theory behind this method is described, and detailed error analyses for our simple apparatus are discussed by using well-established systems in the literature: water + 2-butanol and 1-butanol + 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate ([bmim][PF(6)]). Then, results for mixtures of [bmim][PF(6)] and pentafluoroethane (R-125) are provided, as well as those of the test systems above. As predicted in our earlier work, this binary system shows liquid-liquid separations in the R-125-rich side solutions with a lower critical solution temperature. In addition, we have found very large negative excess molar volumes in this system.