General Information
    • ISSN: 1793-821X (Print)
    • Abbreviated Title: J. Clean Energy Technol.
    • Frequency: Quarterly
    • DOI: 10.18178/JOCET
    • Editor-in-Chief: Prof. Haider F. Abdul Amir
    • Executive Editor: Ms. Jennifer Zeng
    • Abstracting/ Indexing:  INSPEC (IET), Electronic Journals Library, Chemical Abstracts Services (CAS), Ulrich's Periodicals Directory, Google Scholar, ProQuest, CNKI.
    • E-mail: jocet@ejournal.net
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Editor-in-chief
Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Malaysia.
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JOCET 2015 Vol.3(4): 282-286 ISSN: 1793-821X
DOI: 10.7763/JOCET.2015.V3.209

Glycerol—A Viable Solvent for Absorption of Highly Polar Solutes I: Behaviour of Molecular Interactions

Jacques J. Scheepers and Edison Muzenda
Abstract—This work focused on the potential of glycerol as a scrubbing solvent for stripping of highly polar volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from industrial waste gas streams. Results for glycerol interactions were compared to those of its water. Solubility predictions in the form of infinite dilution activity coefficients were made using the Modified UNIFAC Dortmund group contribution model, which was set up on a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet specifically designed for this purpose. Activity coefficients for VOCs in waster and glycerol (highly polar solvents) increased with an increase in the length of the VOC solute nonpolar tail. Furthermore, activity coefficients decreased with an increase in the degree of branching of the VOC solute. The results show that low chain length highly polar alcohol, ketone, organic acid and aldehyde solutes are very soluble in glycerol. Diols, dicarbonyl aldehydes, some ketone derivatives and the ethanolamines also show good solubility. Highly polar diesters and ester derivatives are insoluble in glycerol and water. This study has found glycerol to be a better scrubbing solvent than water in treating highly polar VOCs. However it is possible that the standard method of building up the glycerol molecule in the UNIFAC may result in under-predictions of activity coefficients and thus special group interaction parameters for glycerol are required.

Index Terms—Activity coefficients, glycerol, solubility, UNIFAC, van der Waals.

The authors are with the Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg 2028 (tel: 0027-11-5596817; fax: 0027-11-5596430; e-mail: jacquesjscheepers@gmail.com, emuzenda@uj.ac.za).

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Cite:Jacques J. Scheepers and Edison Muzenda, "Glycerol—A Viable Solvent for Absorption of Highly Polar Solutes I: Behaviour of Molecular Interactions," Journal of Clean Energy Technologies vol. 3, no. 4, pp. 282-286, 2015.

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