Generalized algorithm for solid-liquid equilibrium stage

This paper gives a general method to calculate solid and liquid equilibrium stage by identifying the number of phases and the species of crystals existing at equilibrium automatically. An effective and rapid algorithm is proposed to obtain the result at equilibrium. This algorithm also gives the sequence of each crystal being precipitated and the composition of each phase during crystal precipitation. This is important for the need of process simulation for solid-liquid separation. Especially, method does not depend on phase diagram. On the contrary, the phase diagram of solid and liquid equilibrium could be obtained by this method. Several examples are given to show that this method is capable of predicting the composition of solid and liquid equilibrium for systems with hydrate, multi-ion and complex salts.