Non-linear Computational Analysis of the Azeotropic Behavior of a Ternary Refrigerant Mixture

Finding an optimum refrigerant mixture while considering cost and keeping an eye on the effect it has on the environment has been a major topic in physical environmental studies. In this project an in-depth computational analysis on a system of ternary mixture of refrigerants was performed. The purpose was to find the best-fit constants to a system of nonlinear equations that model the vapor-liquid equilibrium of a ternary mixture of refrigerants that exhibit an azeotrope. The algorithms proposed in this study could be extended to other mixtures and the number of elements can be expanded on for future work. The computational results were compared to experimental data from published research articles, and the agreement with a binary mixture was excellent and very good for a ternary mixture. The approximation was performed numerically with MATLAB along with experimental data at the azeotropic point as an input. This method can be a valuable tool to predict the vapor-liquid phase behavior of azeotropic mixtures.