Solubility of Sulfur Dioxide in a Commercial Hydrocarbon Mixture in the Temperature Range of (303 to 343) K: Effect of Hydrocarbon Composition on Absorption

Abstract

The sulfur dioxide solubility in hydrocarbon mixtures mostly depends on the chemical composition of the solvent. The changes in noncyclic–cyclic and saturated–unsaturated parts affect not only the physical properties of the liquid but also the gas solubility. This work evaluates the solubility and average enthalpy of dissolution of sulfur dioxide in a commercial hydrocarbon mixture (heat transfer oil) in the temperature range of (303 to 343) K and at gas loading pressures below 250 kPa. The investigated commercial hydrocarbon mixture mainly consists of aliphatic alkanes according to the 1H NMR, Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analyses. Gas solubility is expressed in four different units; Henry's constant, Ostwald's coefficient, sulfur dioxide mole fraction, and grams of solute in unit volume of solvent at three different pressures including solubility–temperature relations in the working temperature range. The effect of solvent chemical composition on s...