The Benedict-Webb-Rubin Equation of State Gidoni Alendy 0705626 Joslyn Benjamin 0500885 Romerio Levy 0701783

University of Technology, Jamaica Chemical Engineering Thermodynamics 02 CHE 3007 Virgo February, 22 2011

Introduction
The virial equation of state is obtained when the compressibility factor of a vapor or gas at constant temperature (T) and composition of mixture (x) is a function of pressure (P) or density ( ). At a low to moderate pressure the compressibility factor of a vapor or gas has a constant T and x. The virial equation is an infinite-series representation of the compressibility factor Z, the expression of the compressibility is as . The parameter B, C, are

called the second, third, virial coefficients these depend only on T and x. The Benedict-Webb-Rubin (BWR) equation of state modifies the virial equation by adding an exponential term. BWR equation of state is expressed as . The BWR equation of state is a more accurate than the van der Waals and Redlich-Kwong Equation of state but more complex. The BWR equation of state is based on physical behavior of gases, but mostly it is created through experimentation. There are eight constants in the BWR equation of state that are specific to particular gases. These constants are A0, B0, C0, a, b, c, , and with these constants the behavior P-v-T diagram can be

better described thus giving the BWR equation of state a much greater validity than that of the ideal gas equation.

Application of the Benedict-Webb-Rubin equation of state

The Benedict-Webb-Rubin equation of state is mainly applied to light hydrocarbons as it has been proven to be very successful at predicting their P-v-T data. Also, it accurately represents substances with densities 2.5
cr

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An example problem is given below: Predict the specific volume of methane gas at 100 atm on 0 F by using the ideal gas relation, the van der Waals equation and the Benedict-Webb-Rubin equation. Solution The ideal gas relation predicts

  Where R for methane is taken from Table C.2 (Howell and Buckius 1992). For the van der Waals equation, the constants for methane are the van der Waals equation is rewritten in terms of , and  . If

Solving for the positive real root gives

The BWR relation constants for methane are given in Table C.5. (Howell and Buckius 1992). The BWR equation is implicit in , as was the van der Waals equation, and must be solved by iteration. Assuming various values of and substituting into the right-hand side of the equation

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 hand side is equal to the prescribed value of P yield

until the right

Comparing the BWR equation of state with the ideal gas equation and the van der Waals equation we see that specific volume of the BWR is 10.6 percent above that of the van der Waals equation. The deviation between the van der Waals and BWR equation of state depend on particular gas and the conditions, however the result of the BWR equation of state is within 1 percent of the experimental data.

Conclusion
To obtain a more accurate value for the specific volume the difficulty of the equation of state increases as well. The choice of which equation of state to be used must be chosen based on the required accuracy for the problem at hand.

References

Abbott, M M, and H G Van Ness. "Schaums's Outline of theory and problems of thermodynamics." 137. Mc Graw-Hill, Inc., 1989. Cengel, Yunus A, and Robert H Turner. Fundamentals of Thermal - Fluid Sciences. n.d. Howell, John R, and Richard O Buckius. "Fundamentals of Engineering Thermodynamics." 109111. New Jersey: McGraw-Hill, Inc., 1992.

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Moran, Micheal J, and Howard N Shapiro. Fundamentals of Engineering Thermodynamics 5th ed. n.d.