Vapor-liquid equilibria of selected aromatic hydrocarbons in triethylene glycol

Abstract The need to have accurate data on the phase behavior of dilute solutions is becoming increasingly important in areas such as air and ground water pollution. Aromatic pollutants such as benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and the xylenes are found in typical glycol dehydration units. Experimental vapor-liquid equilibrium data for systems containing benzene, toluene, ethyl benzene and o-xylene in the presence of pure triethylene glycol (TEG) or TEG solutions containing 1 wt % and 5 wt % water have been obtained. The experimental conditions were representative of flash tank (7000 kPa, 75° and 125°C), contactor (2000 and 7000 kPa, 25° and 50°C) and regenerator (140 kPa, 176° and 204°C) conditions for typical TEG dehydration units. These experimental data may be used as a data base to develop predictive models to describe the process. The resulting models could then be used to optimize the design of TEG dehydration units.