Calibration of a low temperature calorimeter and application in the determination of isobaric heat capacity of 2-propanol

Nowadays, the experimental thermodynamic characterization of solvents in an extended range of temperatures and pressures is essential for the development of a wide variety of industrial applications (refrigeration, reactors, pumping, etc.). Moreover, accurate experimental data are also the key for the successful development and subsequent benchmarking of thermodynamic theoretical models. In the particular case of isobaric heat capacities, there are quite a lot of reported experimental high temperature data but, on the other hand, low temperature data are practically inexistent for most compounds. Bearing this limitation in mind, the present work is focused on the development of a new calibration methodology for calorimetric determination of isobaric heat capacities in liquid state at low temperatures. For this purpose, a Calvet calorimeter, SETARAM BT 2.15 has been used. By means of the calibration procedure explained below, this calorimeter allows to determine phase transitions and thermodynamic properties in a wide range of temperature (233.15–473.15 K) and pressure (0.1–100 MPa).