The mass utilization of volatile combustible organic solvents as a carrier for fine chemicals or a medium for reactions in the chemical industries necessitates the direct measurement of solvents’ boiling range in the mixture to enhance their functionality and ensure the safety of operation.
In this application note, the normal boiling temperatures of pure solvents and their mixtures were measured using Differential Scanning Calorimeter (DSC). Cold-sealed aluminum crucibles with a 50 µm laser-cut hole in the lid were used to establish the optimum vapor-liquid equilibrium to obtain sharp boiling endotherms. Such tests were verified for liquids in different boiling ranges using ethyl alcohol (78.4 °C), water (100.0 °C), and ethylene glycol (197.3 °C). For all pure solvents, the boiling endotherms reached a maximum in the heat flow and then abruptly declined, which signaled the rapid vaporization of all solvent molecules.
The boiling endotherms for the more volatile components in the binary and ternary mixture demonstrated the expected rise in the boiling points. Nonetheless, there was a steady broad decline after the heat flow reached a maximum. This was attributed to the shift to higher boiling temperatures as the remaining liquid phase of the mixture was gradually getting richer in the higher boiling components.
The Differential Scanning Calorimeter (DSC) technique can provide a convenient tool to directly measure the boiling point of pure solvents and evaluate the boiling behavior of more volatile components in a complex liquid mixture.
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