NonReactingMixtures

Many important thermodynamic applications involve mixtures of several pure

substances. A non-reacting gas mixture can be treated as a pure substance since it is
usually a homogenous mixture of different gases (called components or constituents).
Homogeneous gas mixtures are frequently treated as a single compound rather than many
individual constituents. For instance, air consists of oxygen, nitrogen, argon and water
vapor. But dry air can be treated as a simple gas with a molar mass of 28.97 kg/kmol.
We need to develop equations to express the properties of mixtures in terms of the
properties of their individual constituents.

Somedefinitions
The mass of a mixture mm is the sum of the masses of the individual components, and the
mole number of the mixture Nm is the sum of the mole number of the individual
components:
k

m m mi

Nm Ni

and

i 1

i 1

Mass fraction, mf: the ratio of the mass of a component to the mass of the mixture
mi
mm

mf i

Mole fraction, y: the ratio of the mole number of a component to the mole number of the
mixture
Ni
Nm

yi

Note that the sum of the mass fractions or mole fractions for a mixture is equal to 1.
The mass of a substance can be expressed as: m = NM.
Apparent molar mass:

Mm
Mm

mm

Nm

mm

Nm

N M

mm

mi / M i

Nm

y i M i or

mi / mm M i

Gas constant of a mixture can be written as: Rm

1
mf i / M i

Ru
; and Ru = 8.314 kPa.m3/kmol.K
Mm

Mass and mole fractions of a mixture are related by:

mf i

M. Bahrami

mi
NM
M
i i yi i
mm N m M m
Mm

ENSC 461 (S 11)

Non Reacting Mixtures

PVTrelationshipsforIdealGasMixtures
An ideal gas is defined as a gas whose molecules are spaced so far apart so that the
behavior of a molecule is not influenced by the presence of other molecules. At low
pressures and high temperatures, gas mixtures can be modeled as ideal gas. The behavior
of ideal gas can be expressed by simple relationship Pv = RT, or by using compressibility
factor by Pv = ZRT.
Prediction of the P-v-T behavior of gas mixtures is typically based on the following two
models:
Daltons law (additive pressures): the pressure of a mixture of gases is the sum of the
pressures of its components when each alone occupies the volume of the mixture, V, at
the temperature, T, of the mixture.
Gas A

Gas B

Gas mixture

V, T

V, T

V, T

mA, NA, PA

mB, NB, PB

mm = mA + mB
Nm = NA + NB
Pm = PA + PB

Fig.1: Daltons law of additive pressures for a mixture of two gases.

Amagats law (additive volumes): the volume of a mixture is the sum of the volumes that
each constituent gas would occupy if each were at the pressure, P, and temperature, T, of
the mixture.
Gas A

Gas B

Gas mixture

P, T

P, T

P, T

mA, NA, VA

mB, NB, VB

mm = mA + mB
Nm = NA + NB
Vm = VA + VB

Fig.2: Amagats law of additive volumes for a mixture of two gases.

The volume fraction is defined as the ratio Vi/Vm. Also we define the pressure fraction as
the ratio of Pi/Pm
k

Pm Pi
i 1

and Vm Vi
i 1

By combining the results of the Amagat and Dalton models, we obtain for ideal gas
mixtures:

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ENSC 461 (S 11)

Non Reacting Mixtures

Pi Vi
N

i yi
P V
Nm
Therefore, Amagats law and Daltons law are equivalent to each other if the gases and
the mixture are ideal gases. This is strictly valid for ideal-gas mixtures.

RealGasProperties
Daltons law and Amagats law can also be used for real gases, often with reasonable
accuracy. However; the component pressure or volume should be calculated using
relationships that take into account the deviation of each component from ideal gas
behavior. One way of doing this is to use the compressibility factor:

PV = ZNRuT
The compressibility factor of the mixture Zm can be calculated from:
k

Z m yi Z i
i 1

where Zi is determined either at Tm and Vm (Daltons law) or at Tm and Pm (Amagats law)

for each individual gas. It should be noted that for real-gas mixtures, these two laws give
different results.

KaysRule
Involves the use of a pseudo-critical pressure and pseudo-critical temperature for the
mixture, defined in terms of the critical pressures and temperatures of the mixtures
components as:
P ' cr ,m y i Pcr ,i

and T ' cr ,m y i Tcr ,i

The compressibility factor of the mixture is then easily determined by using these
pseudo-critical properties. The result obtained by using Kays rule is accurate to within
10%.
Example 1

A rigid tank contains 2 kmol of N2 and 6 kmol of CO2 gases at 300 K and 15 MPa.
Estimate the volume of the tank on the basis of: a) the ideal-gas equation of state, b)
Kays rule, c) compressibility factors and Amagats law, and d) compressibility factors
and Daltons law.

Analysis:
a) Assuming ideal gas, the volume of the mixture is calculated from:

N m Ru Tm 8kmol 8.314kPa.m 3 / kmol. K 300 K

Vm

1.330m 3
15,000kPa
Pm
since

N m N N 2 N CO2 6 2 8kmol
The molar fractions are:

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ENSC 461 (S 11)

Non Reacting Mixtures

y N2

NN2
Nm

2kmol
0.25 and
8kmol

y CO2

N CO 2
Nm

6kmol
0.75
8kmol

b) Kays rule; critical temperatures and pressures of N2 and CO2 can be found from Table
A-1.
Tcr' ,m y i Tcr ,m y N 2 Tcr , N 2 y CO2 Tcr ,CO2

0.25 126.2 K 0.75 304.2 K 259.7 K

Pcr' ,m y i Pcr ,m y N 2 Pcr , N 2 y CO2 Pcr ,CO2

0.25 3.39MPa 0.75 7.39 MPa 6.39MPa

then;
Tm
300 K

1.16
'
Tcr ,m 259.7 K

Fig . A 15b Z m 0.49

Pm
15MPa
PR '
2.35
Pcr ,m 6.39MPa

TR

thus;

Z m N m Ru Tm 0.498kmol 8.314kPa.m 3 / kmol. K 300 K

Vm

0.652m 3
Pm
15,000kPa
c) Amagats law:
Tm
300 K

2.38
Tcr , N 2 126.2 K

Fig . A 15b Z N 2 1.02

Pm
15MPa

4.42
Pcr , N 2 3.39MPa

TR , N 2
N2 :
PR , N 2

300 K

0.99
Tcr ,CO2 304.2 K

Fig . A 15b Z CO2 0.3

Pm
15MPa

2.03
Pcr ,CO2 7.39MPa

TR ,CO2
CO2 :
PR ,CO2

Tm

Mixture:
Z m y i Z i y N 2 Z N 2 y CO2 Z CO2

0.251.02 0.750.3 0.48

Thus;
Vm

Z m N m Ru Tm 0.488kmol 8.314kPa.m 3 / kmol. K 300 K

0.638m 3
Pm
15,000kPa

Note that the compressibility factor in this case turned out to be almost the same as the
one determined by using Kays rule.

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ENSC 461 (S 11)

Non Reacting Mixtures

d) Daltons law
This time the compressibility factor of each component is to be determined at the mixture
temperature and volume, which is not known. Therefore, an iterative solution is required.
We start the calculations by assuming that the volume of the gas mixture is 1.330 m3, the
value determined by assuming ideal-gas behavior.
The TR values are identical to those obtained in part c).
VR, N 2

VN2

Ru Tcr , N 2 / Pcr , N 2

Vm / N N 2
Ru Tcr , N 2 / Pcr , N 2

1.33m /2kmol
8.314kPa.m / kmol.K 126.2K /3390kPa 2.15
3

Similarly,

1.33m /6kmol

8.314kPa.m / kmol.K 304.2K /7390kPa 0.648

3

V R ,CO2

From Fig. A-15, we read ZN2 = 0.99 and ZCO2 = 0.56, thus,
Z m y N 2 Z N 2 y CO2 Z CO2 0.250.99 0.750.56 0.67
and,
Vm

Z m N m Ru Tm 0.67 8kmol 8.314kPa.m 3 / kmol. K 300 K

0.891m 3
Pm
15,000kPa

This is 33% lower than the assumed value. Therefore, we should repeat the calculations,
using the new value of Vm. When calculations are repeated we obtain 0.738 m3 after the
second iteration, 0.678 m3 after the third iteration, and 0.648 m3 after the fourth iteration.
This value does not change with more iteration. Therefore:
Vm = 0.648 m3
Note that the results obtained in parts (b), (c), and (d) are very close. But they are very
different from the ideal gas value. Therefore, treating a mixture of gases as an ideal gas
may yield unacceptable errors at high pressures.

MixtureProperties
Extensive properties such as U, H, cp, cv and S can be found by adding the contribution of
each component at the condition at which the component exists in the mixture.
k

i 1

i 1

i 1

i 1

i 1

i 1

U m U i mi u i N i u i
H m H i mi hi N i hi
k

i 1

i 1

i 1

S m S i mi s i N i s i

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ENSC 461 (S 11)

kJ
kJ
kJ / K

Non Reacting Mixtures

where u is the specific internal energy of the mixture per mole of the mixture.
Also;
k

i 1

i 1

i 1

i 1

u m mf i u i kJ / kg and u m y i u i

kJ / kmol
kJ / kmol

hm mf i hi kJ / kg and hm y i hi
k

i 1

i 1

s m mf i si kJ / kg and s m y i si

kJ / kmol

i 1

i 1

kJ / kmol.K

cv ,m mf i cv ,i kJ / kg.K and cv ,m y i cv ,i
k

i 1

i 1

kJ / kmol.K

c p ,m mf i c p ,i kJ / kg.K and c p ,m y i c p ,i
Changes in internal energy and enthalpy of mixtures:
k

i 1

i 1

i 1

i 1

i 1

i 1

kJ

U m U i mi u i N i u i

kJ

H m H i mi hi N i hi
k

i 1

i 1

i 1

S m S i mi si N i si

kJ / K

Care should be exercised in evaluating the s of the components since the entropy of an
ideal gas depends on the pressure or volume of the component as well as on its
temperature.
k

i 1

i 1

s 2 s1 m mf i s 2 s1 i mf i c p ,i ln T2
T

Ri ln

Pi , 2

Pi ,1 i

This relationship can also be expressed on a per mole basis.

Notes:

when ideal gases are mixed, a change in entropy occurs as a result of the increase in
disorder in the systems

if the initial temperature of all constituents are the same, the mixing process is
adiabatic; i.e., temperature does not change but entropy does!

P
P

S m m1 R1 ln 1 m2 R2 ln 2 ...
P
P

k
P
mi Ri i
P
i 1

M. Bahrami

ENSC 461 (S 11)

Non Reacting Mixtures