{"id":218,"date":"2020-06-30T19:09:41","date_gmt":"2020-06-30T19:09:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/chbe220\/chapter\/pxy-diagram\/"},"modified":"2026-03-16T13:51:52","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T13:51:52","slug":"pxy-diagram","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/chbe220\/chapter\/pxy-diagram\/","title":{"raw":"Pxy Diagram","rendered":"Pxy Diagram"},"content":{"raw":"<div class=\"textbox textbox--learning-objectives\"><header class=\"textbox__header\">\n<p class=\"textbox__title\">Learning Objectives<\/p>\n\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"textbox__content\">\n\nBy the end of this section, you should be able to:\n\n<strong>Read<\/strong> Pxy diagrams for binary mixtures\n\n<strong>Find<\/strong> bubble points and dew points on a Pxy diagram\n\n<strong>Calculate<\/strong> the mole fraction of substances in the vapour and liquid states\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"cell border-box-sizing text_cell rendered\">\n<div class=\"inner_cell\">\n<div class=\"text_cell_render border-box-sizing rendered_html\">\n\nThe following diagram is the Pxy diagram for a benzene-toluene mixture at a constant temperature of 373K. They y-coordinates show the pressure of the mixture and the x-coordinates show the mole fraction of benzene in liquid and\/or vapour phases.\n\n<img class=\" wp-image-211 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2020\/06\/Capture-benzene-toluene-Pxy-300x269.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"414\" height=\"371\">\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"cell border-box-sizing text_cell rendered\">\n<div class=\"prompt input_prompt\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"inner_cell\">\n<div class=\"text_cell_render border-box-sizing rendered_html\">\n\nHigher pressure forces molecules to come closer together, which causes the molecules to be more likely to condense from vapour to liquid. From top to bottom, the regions are liquid region, vapour-liquid equilibrium region, vapour region, which is the opposite from the Txy diagram:\n\n<img class=\" wp-image-212 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2026\/03\/Capture-Pxy-diagram-regions-300x272.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"362\">\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"cell border-box-sizing text_cell rendered\">\n<div class=\"inner_cell\">\n<div class=\"text_cell_render border-box-sizing rendered_html\">\n\nSuppose we have a mixture with <strong>0.5 mole fraction of benzene at a pressure of 0.5 bar<\/strong>, and we slowly increase the pressure while keeping the temperature constant at 373K.\n\nWe can locate our starting point using the pressure and mole fraction of benzene:\n\n<img class=\" wp-image-213 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2026\/03\/Capture-Pxy-process-1-300x268.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"371\" height=\"332\">\n\nThe point is fully in the vapour region, which means the mixture of benzene and toluene is in the vapour phase at a pressure of 0.5 bar and temperature of 373K.\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"cell border-box-sizing text_cell rendered\">\n<div class=\"prompt input_prompt\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"inner_cell\">\n<div class=\"text_cell_render border-box-sizing rendered_html\">\n\nAs we keep increasing the pressure, the point will hit the first curve on the boundary of the vapour region. This point is the <strong>dew point<\/strong> of the system. At the dew point, the first drop of liquid is being formed. The composition of the first liquid can be found using the x-coordinate of the point on the other curve where the pressure is the same.\n\n<img class=\" wp-image-214 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2026\/03\/Capture-Pxy-process-2-1-300x256.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"374\" height=\"319\">\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"cell border-box-sizing text_cell rendered\">\n<div class=\"inner_cell\">\n<div class=\"text_cell_render border-box-sizing rendered_html\">\n\nIf we keep increasing the pressure while keeping the temperature constant, the point will move up into the vapour-liquid equilibrium region. Similarly to the Txy diagram, we can read the mole fraction of benzene by drawing a horizontal line through the point and reading the x-coordinate where the line hits the two curves.\n\n<img class=\" wp-image-215 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2026\/03\/Capture-Pxy-process-3-300x261.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"376\" height=\"327\">\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"cell border-box-sizing text_cell rendered\">\n<div class=\"prompt input_prompt\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"inner_cell\">\n<div class=\"text_cell_render border-box-sizing rendered_html\">\n\nAs the pressure goes up, the system will hit the <strong>bubble point<\/strong>, where the last drop of vapour condenses into a liquid.\n\n<img class=\" wp-image-216 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2026\/03\/Capture-Pxy-process-4-300x272.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"377\" height=\"342\">\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\n\nNotice that the line connecting all the bubble points at different mole fractions appears to be linear. We can show why this occurs using Raoult's law:\n\nStarting with the total pressure in the system being the sum of individual partial pressures, we replace each partial pressure with the liquid mole fraction and vapour pressure (using Raoult's law):\n\\begin{align*}\nP=p_{1}+p_{2} &amp; =x_{1}\u00d7p^*_{1}(T)+x_{2}\u00d7p^*_{2}(T)\\\\\n&amp; =x_{1}\u00d7p^*_{1}(T)+(1-x_{1})\u00d7p^*_{2}(T)\\\\\n&amp;= x_{1}\u00d7[p^*_{1}(T)-p^*_{2}(T)]+p^*_{2}(T)\n\\end{align*}\n\nThis equation is in a linear form, where [latex][p^*_{1}(T)-p^*_{2}(T)][\/latex] is the slope and [latex]p^*_{2}(T)[\/latex] is the y-intercept. Because the Pxy diagrams assume constant temperature, the vapour pressures are constant.\n\n<\/div>\n&nbsp;\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"cell border-box-sizing text_cell rendered\">\n<div class=\"inner_cell\">\n<div class=\"text_cell_render border-box-sizing rendered_html\">\n\nWhen we raise the pressure of the system over the dew point, the system will stay fully in the liquid region. There will be only liquid in the system and the composition of the liquid will be equal to the overall system composition.\n\n<img class=\" wp-image-217 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2026\/03\/Capture-Pxy-process-5-300x274.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"392\" height=\"358\">\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>","rendered":"<div class=\"textbox textbox--learning-objectives\">\n<header class=\"textbox__header\">\n<p class=\"textbox__title\">Learning Objectives<\/p>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"textbox__content\">\n<p>By the end of this section, you should be able to:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Read<\/strong> Pxy diagrams for binary mixtures<\/p>\n<p><strong>Find<\/strong> bubble points and dew points on a Pxy diagram<\/p>\n<p><strong>Calculate<\/strong> the mole fraction of substances in the vapour and liquid states<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"cell border-box-sizing text_cell rendered\">\n<div class=\"inner_cell\">\n<div class=\"text_cell_render border-box-sizing rendered_html\">\n<p>The following diagram is the Pxy diagram for a benzene-toluene mixture at a constant temperature of 373K. They y-coordinates show the pressure of the mixture and the x-coordinates show the mole fraction of benzene in liquid and\/or vapour phases.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-211 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2020\/06\/Capture-benzene-toluene-Pxy-300x269.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"414\" height=\"371\" srcset=\"https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/chbe220\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2020\/06\/Capture-benzene-toluene-Pxy-300x269.png 300w, https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/chbe220\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2020\/06\/Capture-benzene-toluene-Pxy-65x58.png 65w, https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/chbe220\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2020\/06\/Capture-benzene-toluene-Pxy-225x202.png 225w, https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/chbe220\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2020\/06\/Capture-benzene-toluene-Pxy-350x314.png 350w, https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/chbe220\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2020\/06\/Capture-benzene-toluene-Pxy.png 501w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 414px) 100vw, 414px\" \/><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"cell border-box-sizing text_cell rendered\">\n<div class=\"prompt input_prompt\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"inner_cell\">\n<div class=\"text_cell_render border-box-sizing rendered_html\">\n<p>Higher pressure forces molecules to come closer together, which causes the molecules to be more likely to condense from vapour to liquid. From top to bottom, the regions are liquid region, vapour-liquid equilibrium region, vapour region, which is the opposite from the Txy diagram:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-212 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2026\/03\/Capture-Pxy-diagram-regions-300x272.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"362\" srcset=\"https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/chbe220\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2026\/03\/Capture-Pxy-diagram-regions-300x272.png 300w, https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/chbe220\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2026\/03\/Capture-Pxy-diagram-regions-65x59.png 65w, https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/chbe220\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2026\/03\/Capture-Pxy-diagram-regions-225x204.png 225w, https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/chbe220\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2026\/03\/Capture-Pxy-diagram-regions-350x317.png 350w, https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/chbe220\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2026\/03\/Capture-Pxy-diagram-regions.png 675w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"cell border-box-sizing text_cell rendered\">\n<div class=\"inner_cell\">\n<div class=\"text_cell_render border-box-sizing rendered_html\">\n<p>Suppose we have a mixture with <strong>0.5 mole fraction of benzene at a pressure of 0.5 bar<\/strong>, and we slowly increase the pressure while keeping the temperature constant at 373K.<\/p>\n<p>We can locate our starting point using the pressure and mole fraction of benzene:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-213 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2026\/03\/Capture-Pxy-process-1-300x268.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"371\" height=\"332\" srcset=\"https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/chbe220\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2026\/03\/Capture-Pxy-process-1-300x268.png 300w, https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/chbe220\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2026\/03\/Capture-Pxy-process-1-65x58.png 65w, https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/chbe220\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2026\/03\/Capture-Pxy-process-1-225x201.png 225w, https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/chbe220\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2026\/03\/Capture-Pxy-process-1-350x313.png 350w, https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/chbe220\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2026\/03\/Capture-Pxy-process-1.png 598w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 371px) 100vw, 371px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The point is fully in the vapour region, which means the mixture of benzene and toluene is in the vapour phase at a pressure of 0.5 bar and temperature of 373K.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"cell border-box-sizing text_cell rendered\">\n<div class=\"prompt input_prompt\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"inner_cell\">\n<div class=\"text_cell_render border-box-sizing rendered_html\">\n<p>As we keep increasing the pressure, the point will hit the first curve on the boundary of the vapour region. This point is the <strong>dew point<\/strong> of the system. At the dew point, the first drop of liquid is being formed. The composition of the first liquid can be found using the x-coordinate of the point on the other curve where the pressure is the same.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-214 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2026\/03\/Capture-Pxy-process-2-1-300x256.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"374\" height=\"319\" srcset=\"https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/chbe220\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2026\/03\/Capture-Pxy-process-2-1-300x256.png 300w, https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/chbe220\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2026\/03\/Capture-Pxy-process-2-1-65x56.png 65w, https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/chbe220\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2026\/03\/Capture-Pxy-process-2-1-225x192.png 225w, https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/chbe220\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2026\/03\/Capture-Pxy-process-2-1-350x299.png 350w, https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/chbe220\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2026\/03\/Capture-Pxy-process-2-1.png 619w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 374px) 100vw, 374px\" \/><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"cell border-box-sizing text_cell rendered\">\n<div class=\"inner_cell\">\n<div class=\"text_cell_render border-box-sizing rendered_html\">\n<p>If we keep increasing the pressure while keeping the temperature constant, the point will move up into the vapour-liquid equilibrium region. Similarly to the Txy diagram, we can read the mole fraction of benzene by drawing a horizontal line through the point and reading the x-coordinate where the line hits the two curves.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-215 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2026\/03\/Capture-Pxy-process-3-300x261.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"376\" height=\"327\" srcset=\"https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/chbe220\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2026\/03\/Capture-Pxy-process-3-300x261.png 300w, https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/chbe220\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2026\/03\/Capture-Pxy-process-3-65x57.png 65w, https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/chbe220\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2026\/03\/Capture-Pxy-process-3-225x196.png 225w, https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/chbe220\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2026\/03\/Capture-Pxy-process-3-350x305.png 350w, https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/chbe220\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2026\/03\/Capture-Pxy-process-3.png 611w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 376px) 100vw, 376px\" \/><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"cell border-box-sizing text_cell rendered\">\n<div class=\"prompt input_prompt\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"inner_cell\">\n<div class=\"text_cell_render border-box-sizing rendered_html\">\n<p>As the pressure goes up, the system will hit the <strong>bubble point<\/strong>, where the last drop of vapour condenses into a liquid.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-216 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2026\/03\/Capture-Pxy-process-4-300x272.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"377\" height=\"342\" srcset=\"https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/chbe220\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2026\/03\/Capture-Pxy-process-4-300x272.png 300w, https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/chbe220\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2026\/03\/Capture-Pxy-process-4-65x59.png 65w, https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/chbe220\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2026\/03\/Capture-Pxy-process-4-225x204.png 225w, https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/chbe220\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2026\/03\/Capture-Pxy-process-4-350x317.png 350w, https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/chbe220\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2026\/03\/Capture-Pxy-process-4.png 590w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 377px) 100vw, 377px\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\n<p>Notice that the line connecting all the bubble points at different mole fractions appears to be linear. We can show why this occurs using Raoult&#8217;s law:<\/p>\n<p>Starting with the total pressure in the system being the sum of individual partial pressures, we replace each partial pressure with the liquid mole fraction and vapour pressure (using Raoult&#8217;s law):<br \/>\n\\begin{align*}<br \/>\nP=p_{1}+p_{2} &amp; =x_{1}\u00d7p^*_{1}(T)+x_{2}\u00d7p^*_{2}(T)\\\\<br \/>\n&amp; =x_{1}\u00d7p^*_{1}(T)+(1-x_{1})\u00d7p^*_{2}(T)\\\\<br \/>\n&amp;= x_{1}\u00d7[p^*_{1}(T)-p^*_{2}(T)]+p^*_{2}(T)<br \/>\n\\end{align*}<\/p>\n<p>This equation is in a linear form, where [latex][p^*_{1}(T)-p^*_{2}(T)][\/latex] is the slope and [latex]p^*_{2}(T)[\/latex] is the y-intercept. Because the Pxy diagrams assume constant temperature, the vapour pressures are constant.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"cell border-box-sizing text_cell rendered\">\n<div class=\"inner_cell\">\n<div class=\"text_cell_render border-box-sizing rendered_html\">\n<p>When we raise the pressure of the system over the dew point, the system will stay fully in the liquid region. There will be only liquid in the system and the composition of the liquid will be equal to the overall system composition.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-217 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2026\/03\/Capture-Pxy-process-5-300x274.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"392\" height=\"358\" srcset=\"https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/chbe220\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2026\/03\/Capture-Pxy-process-5-300x274.png 300w, https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/chbe220\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2026\/03\/Capture-Pxy-process-5-65x59.png 65w, https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/chbe220\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2026\/03\/Capture-Pxy-process-5-225x206.png 225w, https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/chbe220\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2026\/03\/Capture-Pxy-process-5-350x320.png 350w, https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/chbe220\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2026\/03\/Capture-Pxy-process-5.png 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 392px) 100vw, 392px\" \/><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"menu_order":10,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-218","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"part":154,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/chbe220\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/218","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/chbe220\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/chbe220\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/chbe220\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/chbe220\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/218\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":219,"href":"https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/chbe220\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/218\/revisions\/219"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/chbe220\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/154"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/chbe220\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/218\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/chbe220\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/chbe220\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=218"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/chbe220\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=218"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/chbe220\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}