vapor-phase chemical equilibrium of the ternary system ethylene +
water + ethanol (i.e., for the vapor-phase hydration of ethylene to
ethanol) and compare the simulation predictions with those
obtained by means of the PRSV2-WS-UNIQUAC thermodynamic
model described in the first of our previous works [1].
The reactive Gibbs-ensemble Monte Carlo (RxGEMC) method
[18,30,31] is a combination of the reaction-ensemble (RxMC)
[17–19] and the Gibbs-ensemble (GEMC) [32–39] methods, and it
has already been used for the computation of the combined ChVLE
of dimerization and combination reactions [18,30], the etherification
reaction of isobutene and methanol to yield methyl-tertbutyl
ether [31], and the dimerization reactions of nitrogen dioxide
[40] and nitric oxide [41]. In this work, the RxGEMC method was
implemented in order to compute the combined ChVLE for the
hydration of ethylene to ethanol and compare the simulation
predictions with those previously obtained [1] from the thermodynamic
model.
The outline of the paper is as follows. The RxMC and the
RxGEMC simulation methods are described in Sections 2.1 and 2.2,
respectively. In Section 3.1, simulation results for the vapor-phase
chemical equilibrium of the hydration reaction are reported,
discussed, and compared with calculations previously carried out
[1] by means of the PRSV2-WS-UNIQUAC thermodynamic model.
In Section 3.2, simulation results for the combined ChVLE of the
hydration reaction are reported, discussed, and compared with the
predictions previously made [1] by use of the thermodynamic
model.