TERNARY NUCLEATION - KINETICS AND APPLICATION TO WATER-AMMONIA HYDROCHLORIC-ACID SYSTEM

The ternary nucleation of an ideal mixture of three alcohols and a non -ideal mixture of water, ammonia and hydrochloric acid, which is relev ant in atmosphere, have been investigated theoretically. In the ideal mixture of three alcohols, the nucleation rates obtained using simplif ied kinetic approach are compared with the nucleation rates given by a detailed kinetic model. The simplified model is seen to underestimate nucleation rates by 2-3 orders of magnitude. This is mainly due to th e crude estimate for the Zeldovich factor in the simplified model. We have proposed a modification to the simplified model. The improved mod el gives order-of-magnitude estimates for the nucleation rates. The te rnary nucleation of water-ammonia-hydrochloric acid is studied with th e improved model. The results have been compared with binary nucleatio n of water and ammonium chloride. The results show that water-ammonia- hydrochloric acid mixture is effectively a two-component system. (C) 1 998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.