(181t) Viscosity Modeling of Highly Asymmetric Mixtures

In the present work, a segment-based Eyring-UNIQUAC viscosity model has been developed for the accurate estimation of the dynamic viscosity of highly asymmetric mixtures including polymer solutions. The original viscosity modeling framework based on the Eyring theory was slightly modified to provide a more practical theory-based model for the viscosity of liquid mixtures containing complex components that cannot be typically described by the component-based approach. For the excess Gibbs energy of activation, a segment-based solution model (UNIQUAC) was used to overall represent the non-ideal viscous effects typically encountered in asymmetric mixtures where the size and shape of the constituent molecules greatly differ. The resulting model was successfully validated during the representation of experimental dynamic viscosities of various highly asymmetric mixtures containing mainly hydrocarbons as well as polymer solutions within a wide ranges of temperature, polymer molar mass and composition. The present segment-based viscosity model should be useful and promising for modeling the liquid viscosity in a number of asymmetric mixtures such as petroleum, petrochemicals and polymer solutions.