Vapor–liquid equilibrium (VLE) data are limited due to the resource-intensive nature of conventional measurements. Overcoming this limitation calls for compact VLE measurement setups that allow for rapid data generation. In this paper, we present the automated Raman VLE setup (auRaVLE), an automated milliliter-scale VLE setup, using Raman spectroscopy. Miniaturization accelerates equilibration through improved heat and mass transfer, while reducing sample consumption. Raman spectroscopy enables fast, sampling-free in-situ composition analysis in both phases. Automated sample preparation and experiments mitigate common sources of error and allow 24/7 data generation. We validate our setup with vapor pressure measurements of acetone, ethanol, heptane, and toluene over a range of 278.2–343.1 K and 2.2–97.5 kPa. Furthermore, we measure binary VLE (pTxy) for acetone-heptane (313.15 K), acetone-toluene (313.15 K), and acetone-ethanol (328.15 K), which we validate with literature data and consistency tests. With the auRaVLE setup, we can automatically measure binary VLE in under 24 h, thereby significantly accelerating data output to support rapid process design while minimizing sample consumption.
Busch et al. (Thu,) studied this question.