[77] Vapor−Liquid and Vapor−Solid Phase Equilibria for United-Atom Benzene Models near Their Triple Points:  The Importance of Quadrupolar Interactions

X.S. Zhao, B. Chen, S. Karaborni, and J.I. Siepmann

J. Phys. Chem. B 109, 5368-5374 (2005)

Publication Abstract

Gibbs ensemble Monte Carlo simulations were used to calculate the vapor−liquid and vapor−solid coexistence curves for benzene using two simple united-atom models. An extension of the Gibbs ensemble method that makes use of an elongated box containing a slab of the condensed phase with a vapor phase along one axis was employed for the simulations of the vapor−solid equilibria and the vapor−liquid equilibria at very low reduced temperatures. Configurational-bias and aggregation-volume-bias Monte Carlo techniques were applied to improve the sampling of particle transfers between the two simulation boxes and between the vapor and condensed-phase regions of the elongated box. An isotropic united-atom representation with six Lennard-Jones sites at the positions of the carbon atoms was used for both force fields, but one model contained three additional out-of-plane partial charge sites to explicitly represent benzene's quadrupolar interactions. Both models were fitted to reproduce the critical temperature and density of benzene and yield a fair representation of the vapor−liquid coexistence curve. In contrast, differences between the models are very large for the vapor−solid coexistence curve. In particular, the lack of explicit quadrupolar interactions for the 6-site model greatly reduces the energetic differences between liquid and solid phases, and this model yields a triple point temperature that is about a factor of 2 too low. In contrast, the 9-site model predicts a triple point of benzene at T = 253 ± 6 K and p = 2.3 ± 0.8 kPa in satisfactory agreement with the experimental data (T = 278.7 K and p = 4.785 kPa).

Vapor−Liquid and Vapor−Solid Phase Equilibria for United-Atom Benzene Models near Their Triple Points:  The Importance of Quadrupolar Interactions