TRANSIENT NUCLEATION OF ETHANOL-HEXANOL VAPOR

Transient nucleation of ethanol-hexanol system is studied within a sel f-consistent model. Dimensionless kinetic equation describing the time -dependent process of formation of droplets from vapour phase is solve d numerically to obtain the distribution function of nuclei. Knowing t he distribution function of nuclei (i.e., the number density of nuclei ) the basic characteristics of the nucleation process are determined, such as nucleation rate, transient time and mean cluster composition. It is shown that in the chosen system nucleation starts with the forma tion of ethanol rich clusters; for sufficiently long times (correspond ing to the stationary state) formation of nuclei becomes dominant near the saddle point. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.