Modelling solubility of solids in supercritical fluids using fusion properties

The modelling of solid solubilities in supercritical fluids is usually performed by means of thermodynamic models based on cubic equations of state together with the use of correlations for estimating the solid properties. However, it was shown in the literature, that the error in sublimation pressure, which is very low for high molecular weight compounds, is in many cases responsible for large deviations between experimental and calculated solubilities. In this work, the sublimation pressure of solids is estimated by using experimental fusion data and liquid-vapour equilibrium properties obtained from an equation of state (EOS). The results provided by this method are compared with those obtained using sublimation pressures from literature. It is shown that this method allows satisfactory solubility predictions when using a reliable EOS. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.