Assessment of activity coefficient models for predicting solid-liquid equilibria of asymmetric binary alkane systems

Hydrocarbon fluids play an important role in today's society, being essenti al components of oil and fuels. Phase equilibria knowledge of such mixtures is important in designing equipment and processes. Among the least studied equilibriums is that between solid and liquid phases (SLE) which is requir ed in, e.g., wax formation studies. Still, a number of models have been pro posed for estimating the activity coefficient but are rarely investigated a gainst SLE data. In this study, a number of "well-established" and "up-to-d ate sophisticated" activity coefficient models are tested for their capabil ity in predicting solid-liquid equilibria of alkane systems. A large databa se covering 63 alkane/alkane systems for which SLE data are available is co nsidered. The models include several of the popular approaches proposed dur ing the past 30 years covering the gap of a comprehensive literature review . The capabilities and limitations of the models are discussed and those th at provide successful predictions are recommended at various levels of accu racy and complexity.