R&D NOTE
S
ulpholane is a polar solvent, miscible with water and a good solvent for many compounds. It is a physical solvent, in that there is no chemical reaction when gases dissolve in it. Sulpholane is used in the Sulfi nol process, where it is mixed with water and an alkanolamine (Dunn et al., 1964). Originally, di-isopropanolamine was used but now N-methyldiethanolamine is more common. This solvent is used to remove the acid gases, H 2 S and CO 2 , from natural gases and refi nery gas mixtures. A question often posed is: what is the solubility of hydrocarbons in a physical solvent, since this quantity amounts to a loss of desirable material. An ideal solvent would remove H 2 S and CO 2 without concomitant absorption of hydrocarbons. Rivas and Prausnitz (1979) reported values of the Henry's constant of ethane in sulpholane at four temperatures in the range 303-373 K. Jou et al. (1990) measured the solubility of H 2 S, CO 2 , methane and ethane in sulpholane at elevated pressures in the range of temperatures from 298-403 K. In the present work the solubility of propane in sulpholane is reported over the same temperature range.
EXPERIMENTAL
The apparatus and experimental technique that were used are similar to those described by Jou et al. (1990). The equilibrium cell was mounted in an air bath. The temperature of the contents