Home > Research > Publications & Outputs > Detecting phase transitions in supercritical mi...
View graph of relations

Detecting phase transitions in supercritical mixtures: an enabling tool for greener chemical reactions

Research output: Contribution to Journal/MagazineLiterature reviewpeer-review

Published
  • Jie Ke
  • Yolanda Sanchez-Vicente
  • Geoffrey R. Akien
  • Alexander A. Novitskiy
  • Gurbuz Comak
  • Victor N. Bagratashvili
  • Michael W. George
  • Martyn Poliakoff
Close
<mark>Journal publication date</mark>8/10/2010
<mark>Journal</mark>Proceedings of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences
Issue number2122
Volume466
Number of pages20
Pages (from-to)2799-2818
Publication StatusPublished
<mark>Original language</mark>English

Abstract

Detecting phase transitions in high-pressure CO(2) and supercritical fluids was first attempted in the nineteenth century. By contrast, Green Chemistry, the design and implementation of cleaner methods of manufacturing and processing chemicals, is barely 20 years old. Now, the use of CO(2) as an environmentally more acceptable replacement for traditional solvents for greener chemical reactions is creating the need for new, more rapid methods for elucidating high-pressure phase behaviour. This paper describes the advantages and limitations of a number of approaches, developed in Nottingham, to meet this need, including acoustic measurements, shear-mode quartz sensors, the fibre-optic reflectometer, the use of holey fibres, attenuated total reflectance infrared spectroscopy and pressure drop measurements.