Industrial Benzene Exposure from Petroleum Naphtha: II. Pertinent Physical Properties of Hydrocarbon Mixtures

Abstract

Studies have been made of the vapor pressure of benzene in mixtures with various aliphatic hydrocarbons and a positive deviation from Raoult's Law was shown. Because of this the benzene vapor concentration resulting from the handling of such mixtures will frequently be higher than would be expected from the composition of the solvent. The discussion was extended to include other factors affecting the relative concentrations of benzene vapor and naphtha, and it was concluded that a benzene hazard can be produced by naphthas with a rather low benzene content.