English

Noun

azeotrope ‎(plural azeotropes)

1. (physics) A mixture of two or more substances whose liquid and gaseous forms have the same composition (at a certain pressure); the substances cannot be separated by normal distillation.
   • 1999, Fouad M. Khoury, Predicting the Performance of Multistage Separation Processes, 2nd Edition, page 289,

     The formation of azeotropes due to deviations from Raoult's law was discussed in Section 1.3. An azeotrope is a mixture that, at a given pressure (the azeotropic pressure), boils at a constant temperature (the azeotropic temperature), and has the same composition (the azeotropic composition) in the equilibrium vapor and liquid phases. Homogeneous azeotropes are those that form one liquid phase at equilibrium with the vapor; heterogeneous azeotropes are those that form two liquid phases at equilibrium with each other and the vapor.

   • 1999, Cornel Hagiopol, Copolymerization: Toward a Systematic Approach, page 118,

     When a ternary azeotrope does exist, the curves intersect at the same point.

     The presence of a unitary azeotrope curve is not a prerequisite for the generation of a ternary azeotrope.

   • 2006, Marc Pansu, Jacques Gautheyrou, Handbook of Soil Analysis: Mineralogical, Organic and Inorganic Methods, page 903,

     As the boiling point of HCl–H₂O azeotrope is lower than that of azeotrope (HNO₃–H₂O), hydrochloric acid can be eliminated efficiently by successive evaporations with nitric acid.

Translations

Related terms

• azeotropic
• azeotropy
• zeotrope

See also

• eutectic
• extractive distillation
• salt-effect distillation