Modeling of phase equilibria for aqueous solutions of sugars using a cubic equation of state

PRSV, which is the Peng-Robinson equation of state improved by Stryjek and Vera in 1986, was used to model and predict the thermodynamic properties of water-sucrose, water-glucose, water-fructose, water-maltose and water-xylose solutions. Binary interaction parameters were obtained by fitting the model to binary vapor-liquid equilibrium data expressed as water activity. The water activity of synthetic honey and the boiling point temperature of pure sucrose solutions were calculated and compared with the experimental data. The fugacities of glucose and xylose were also estimated in aqueous saturated solutions at equilibrium with the solid phase, and these values were compared with data from the extrapolated sublimation pressure. The results showed that this method was able to estimate the water activity of sugar mixtures and the order of magnitude of the vapor pressure of sugars.30559360