Solubilities of mixed acenaphthene, fluoranthene, and triphenylene in supercritical carbon dioxide and the separation of binary solid mixtures of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons

The equilibrium solubilities of mixtures of acenaphthene, fluoranthene, and triphenylene in supercritical CO2 were determined at temperatures ranging from 308 K to 338 K and pressures ranging from (121.6 to 354.6) bar. It was observed that in a quaternary system (acenaphthene + fluoranthene + triphe nylene + CO2) the solubility of each substance :increased in comparison to each binary system (pure substance + CO2). Finally the separation of binary solid mixtures of acenaphthene + triphenylene, acenaphthene + fluoranthene , and fluoranthene + triphenylene at 328 K and 121.6 bar was investigated. The results showed that the acenaphthene can be separated from triphenylene and fluoranthene with yields of 99% and 90%, respectively, and fluoranthen e was separated from triphenylene with a yield of 89%.