Review and new insights into the application of molecular-based equations of state to water and aqueous solutions

With the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the SAFT creation, we summarize here some association theories developed in the last 25 years including the association term proposed by Wertheim. Given the vast amount of works published during these years, the review focuses on the application of SAFT equations, Cubic-plus-Association (CPA) and Group Contribution plus Association (GCA) to aqueous solutions of systems with large impact at the chemical and energy industry today: binary mixtures of water with hydrocarbons, CO2, alkanols, amines and ionic liquids. Different molecular models and approaches are revised in detail. In addition, we present new modeling data using the soft-SAFT equation, to highlight the advantages of explicitly including hydrogen bonds when building the equation, even if done at a coarse-grained level, and the remaining challenges and opportunities for improvement.