Solubilities of resorcinol and pyrocatechol and their mixture in supercritical carbon dioxide

The equilibrium solubilities of dihydroxy benzene isomers (resorcinol and pyrocatechol) and its mixture were experimentally determined at different temperatures (308, 318, 328, and 338 K) in the pressure range of 9.8–16.2 MPa. In the ternary system, the solubilities of pyrocatechol increased while the solubilities of resorcinol decreased relative to their binary solubilities. A new association model was developed based on the concept of formation of solvate complex molecules to correlate the solubility of the solid for mixed solids in supercritical carbon dioxide (SCCO2). The model equation relates the solubility of solute in terms of the cosolute composition, temperature, pressure and density of SCCO2. The proposed model correlated the solubilities of sixteen solid systems taken from the literature and current experimental data with an average absolute relative deviation (AARD) of around 4%.

► The equilibrium solubilities of dihydroxy benzene isomers were determined. ► The solubilities of mixed solids in supercritical carbon dioxide were determined. ► A new association model was developed to correlate the ternary solubilities. ► The proposed model correlated the solubilities of seventeen systems within 4%.