Estimation of solid vapor pressures from supercritical CO2 + biomolecule systems using a PSO algorithm

A method to estimate the solid vapor pressures of biomolecules using a biologically deriver algorithm is presented. The solid vapor pressure is usually small for most solid compounds and in many cases available experimental techniques cannot be used to obtain accurate values. Therefore, estimation methods must be used to obtain these data. Five binary gas–solid phase systems of supercritical CO2 + biomolecule containing caffeine, artemisinin, capsaicin, cholesterol, and β-carotene are considered in this study. Particle swarm optimization is used for minimize the difference between calculated and experimental solubility. Then, the solid vapor pressures of biomolecules are calculated from solubility data. The Peng–Robinson equation of state with the Wong–Sandler mixing rules are used to evaluate the fugacity coefficient on the systems. The results show that the method presented is reliable enough and can be used with confidence to estimate the solid vapor pressure of any organic biomolecule.