Title: Geometrical tools for teaching azeotropy using simplified thermodynamic models

Authors: Gustavo Mendes Platt; Gustavo Barbosa Libotte; Francisco Duarte Moura Neto; Douglas Alves Goulart; Fran Sérgio Lobato

Addresses: Grupo de Engenharia e Otimização de Processos Industriais, Escola de Química e Alimentos, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande, Santo Antônio da Patrulha, RS, Brazil ' Instituto Politécnico, Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Nova Friburgo, RJ, Brazil ' Instituto Politécnico, Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Nova Friburgo, RJ, Brazil ' Escola de Química e Alimentos, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande, Rio Grande, RS, Brazil ' Faculdade de Engenharia Química, Universidade Federal de Uberlândia, Uberlândia, MG, Brazil

Abstract: In this work we propose a geometric view of the azeotropy problem, using some simplified models. We demonstrate that the occurrence of azeotropes in binary mixtures can be viewed-geometrically - as the intersection of curves in the plane (for some models, these curves are parabolas). Furthermore, the idea of functions from the plane to the plane is used to help understand the azeotropic phenomenon. These ideas are illustrated with two simple cases, with one and two azeotropes, allowing the analysis of a unusual thermodynamic behaviour - such as double azeotropy - with simple mathematical tools, by undergraduate students in chemical engineering courses.

Keywords: azeotropes; functions from the plane to the plane; double azeotropy.

DOI: 10.1504/IJCEELL.2021.118297

International Journal of Continuing Engineering Education and Life-Long Learning, 2021 Vol.31 No.4, pp.439 - 461

Received: 20 May 2019
Accepted: 15 Jan 2020
Published online: 20 Oct 2021 *

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