A version of the statistical associating fluid theory (SAFT) is developed for chain molecules of hard-core segments with attractive potentials of variable range (SAFT-VR). The different contributions to the Helmholtz free energy are evaluated according to the Wertheim perturbation theory. The monomer properties are obtained from a high-temperature expansion up to second order, using a compact expression for the first-order perturbation term (mean-attractive energy) a1. Making use of the mean-value theorem, a1 is given as the van der Waals attractive constant and the Carnahan and Starling contact value for the hard-sphere radial distribution function in terms of an effective packing fraction. The second-order perturbation term a2 is evaluated with the local compressibility approximation. The monomer cavity function, required for the calculation of the free energy due to the formation of the chains and the contribution due to association, is given as a function of a1. We analyse the equation of state for chain molecules with three different types of monomer hard-core potentials with variable attractive range: square-well (SW), Yukawa (Y), and Sutherland (S). The theory for the hard-core potentials can easily be generalised to soft-core systems: we develop a simple equation of state for Mie m−n potentials, of which the Lennard-Jones (LJ) 6-12 potential is a particular case. The equations of state, expressed in terms of reduced variables, are explicit functions of the reduced temperature, the packing fraction, the number of monomers segments forming the chain, and the parameter λ which characterises the range of the the attractive potential. The relevance of the last parameter in the application of the theory to n-alkanes and n-perfluoroalkanes is explicitly shown with the SW expressions. An accurate description of the vapour pressure and the saturated liquid densities is obtained, with a simple dependence of the parameters of the monomer potential on the number of carbons. The extension of our SAFT-VR expressions to mixtures is also presented in terms of a simple expression for the mean-attractive energy for mixtures, based on a straightforward generalisation of the theory for pure components.

Using a laser tweezers method, we have determined the long-range repulsive force as a function of separation between two charged, spherical polystyrene particles (2.7 microm diameter) present at a nonpolar oil-water interface. At large separations (6 to 12 microm between particle centers) the force is found to decay with distance to the power -4 and is insensitive to the ionic strength of the aqueous phase. The results are consistent with a model in which the repulsion arises primarily from the presence of a very small residual electric charge at the particle-oil interface. This charge corresponds to a fractional dissociation of the total ionizable (sulfate) groups present at the particle-oil surface of approximately 3 x 10(-4).

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A modification of the statistical associating fluid theory has recently been developed to model non-conformal fluids with attractive potentials of variable range (SAFT-VR) Mills, S. J.; Burgess, A. N. J. Chem. Phys. 1997, 106, 4168] which gives a very good description of the phase behaviour of water and its mixtures with nonelectrolytes. In the present paper we extend the SAFT-VR approach to deal with strong-electrolyte solutions (SAFT-VRE). The water molecules are modeled as hard spheres with four attractive short-range sites to describe the hydrogen-bonding association. The electrolyte molecules are modeled with two hard spheres of different size which describe the anion and cation respectively. The mean-spherical approximation (MSA) is used for the restricted primitive model (RPM) to account for the long-range Coulombic ion-ion interactions, while the long-range water-water and ionwater attractive interactions are modeled as square-well dispersive interactions treated via a second-order high-temperature expansion in the spirit of the SAFT-VR approach. We have studied nine single-salt aqueous solutions and one mixed-salt system of characteristic strong electrolytes (alkali halides) in the temperature range between 273 and 373 K. Using only one transferable fitted parameter per ion, the experimental vapor pressures and densities are very well described by the SAFT-VRE theory. As a limit of the MSA, the DebyeHückel (DH) expression is used to describe the ion-ion interactions in one of the solutions. Due to the excellent description of the solvent in the SAFT-VR approach, the experimental vapor pressure for an aqueous solution of sodium chloride is also very well described with this simple approach.

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