The solubilities of benzene, toluene, m-xylene, p-cymene, octane, 2,2,4-trimethylpentane (isooctane), tetrachloroethylene, 1,2-dichlorobenzene, and tetraethyltin were investigated at temperatures ranging from 298 to 473 K. Increasing the temperature by 175 K increased the solubilities by a factor of 10–250
[6].
2.1. Solubilities of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons and Derivatives in Subcritical Water
The solubility of PAHs is important for many industrial plants. Furthermore, their aqueous solubility determines both their uptake by the roots of plants and their transfer to other parts of the plant and their mobility in the soil. The solubilities of three PAHs, namely acenaphthene, anthracene, and pyrene, in water were measured in temperature and pressure ranges of 323–573 K and 50–100 bar, respectively, by Andersson et al.
[7]. The solubility values of the employed compounds below their melting point were determined to be consistent with literature values, and the solubility of pyrene and anthracene exponentially varies with temperature. The solubilities of acenaphthene, anthracene, and pyrene were calculated as mole fraction solubilities (
x2) and were determined as 1.25 × 10
−3 at 300 K and 100 bar, within 1.02 × 10
−7–3.78 × 10
−3 at a temperature range of 373–573 K and pressure of 50 bar and 6.87 × 10
−8–1.41 × 10
−3 at a temperature range of 323–573 and pressure range of 50–100 bar, respectively.
Karásek et al. developed a semiempirical relationship to correlate the solubility of PAHs (naphthalene, anthracene, pyrene, chrysene, 1,2-benzanthracene, triphenylene, perylene,
p-terphenyl) in pressurized hot water within the temperature range of 313–498 K, a pressure of 1–77 bars and equilibrium mole fraction (
x2) of 10
−11–10
−3. They used only pure-component properties such as cohesive energy density, internal pressure and dielectric constant of water and enthalpy of fusion, triple-point temperature, the molar volume of the solid compound and the molar volume of the subcooled liquid of PAHs
[8]. The
x2 data were experimental values of the previously reported research studies.
γ2 (Raoult’s law activity coefficient of the solute) values of each PAH mentioned above were calculated using Equation (3), where
fs02(the fugacity of the pure solid solute) and
f102(the pure subcooled liquid solute) values were calculated by Equations (2) and (3).
The aqueous solubilities (
x2) of solid heterocyclic analogues of anthracene, phenanthrene and fluorene at a specific temperature range (313 K–the melting point of each compound) under 50 bar of pressure were reported by Karásek et al.
[9]. They collected the solubility data of each compound via the dynamic saturation method based on pressurized hot water extraction.
x2 values for the employed compounds were found to be within the 3.17 × 10
−9–8.27 × 10
−4 range and were widely changeable based on the applied temperature. It was also indicated that no appreciable degradation was observed for any compound in the temperature range studied based on the GC/MS results. Obtained solubilities were converted to activity coefficients of individual solutes in saturated aqueous solutions, and the relationship between temperature and type or number of heteroatoms was evaluated (Equation (4)).
where T0 and γ2 refer to 298.15 K and Raoult’s law activity coefficient of the related compound, respectively. b1, b2, and b3 denote the least-squares estimates of the coefficients, and T is the absolute temperature at the experimental conditions. Hence, the increase in the aqueous solubilities of solid heterocyclic analogues of anthracene, phenanthrene and fluorine was reported to strongly depend on the increasing temperature and variance with the heteroatoms.
The solubility values of PAHs in subcritical water were calculated using Equations (5) and (6) with the above-mentioned three UNIFAC-based thermodynamic models.