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8749452 
Journal Article 
Retrograde condensation 
Katz, DL; Kurata, F 
1940 
0 
Industrial & Engineering Chemistry
ISSN: 0019-7866 
32 
6 
817-827 
English 
The term “retrograde condensation” was first used by Kuenen at Leiden in 1892 to describe the behavior of a binary mixture during isothermal compression above the critical temperature of the mixture. Neither the contemporaries of Kuenen nor the recent investigators of the petroleum hydrocarbons have been consistent with Kuenen or with one another in the exact interpretation of the term. The phase behavior of simple and complex systems may be adequately described without the use of the term “retrograde condensation”. The paper presents the phase behavior of simple and complex substances, including laboratory results on the phase relations of a mixture of natural gas and natural gasoline. The development of the concepts of vapor-liquid equilibria indicates that much of the phase behavior observed by the early investigators has not been utilized in present-day developments. The use of the term “retrograde condensation” is discussed; simple rules for nomenclature are recommended, which indicate that phase behavior may be adequately and probably more accurately described without the use of the term. © 1940, American Chemical Society. All rights reserved.