Molecular dynamics simulation of benzene-propene-cumene mixtures in different phases.

Molecular dynamics simulations have been performed to study the microscopic configuration and dynamic behavior of mixtures of benzene, propene, and cumene for the cumene synthesis process. The comparisons have been made for the intermolecular radial distribution functions of the binary and ternary mixtures at the conditions that are near, below, and above their respective critical points. The results have shown that in both binary and ternary mixtures propene molecules have a small tendency to cluster in the liquid state, but at supercritical conditions they tend to be uniformly distributed. Contrary to propene, cumene molecules have a tendency to cluster in ternary mixtures. A moderate local density augmentation is also found in the benzene-propene binary supercritical fluid. The excess functions for benzene-propene binary mixtures have shown that there exists an enhancement of the potential energy when benzene mixes with propene. This enhancement provides a rational explanation for the experimental critical properties, which exhibit the behavior of the nonmonotonous dependence of critical pressure on compositions.