Simplest Phase Equilibrium (pure component/multicomponent)

For the simple phase equilibrium for pure components, water will be the perfect
example, in this case water is a pure component without mixed air.
So:

Figure 1. Characterization of a pure component equilibrium (water)

Pvap means Vapour Pressure, which is the equilibrium pressure of vapour above the
liquid or solid phase; this results from the evaporation of a liquid above a sample of
this liquid in a closed container. Vapour pressure tends to increase when the
temperature is higher.

If Pv<Pl then its boiling

If Pv>Pl then its condensing

It’s important to consider that the rate of escape of molecules from a liquid surface its
proportional to its vapour pressure.

Chemical potential for one component system, is a measure of the potential that a
substance has for a phase change, it can be expressed in the following way:
𝐺
=μ
𝑛
Where G is Gibbs Free Energy, n the number of moles and μ the chemical potential.
Figure 2. The most stable phase can be determined with Gibbs Free Energy [1]

For the thermodynamic criteria for phase equilibrium:

μ v (vapour)= μ l (liquid)
Δ μ =0

Multicomponent
The composition of the two phases generally won’t be the same, except for
azeotropes, so many of the physical separation processes (distillation, evaporation,
drying, etc.) use this difference in composition in the equilibrium to separate one
substance from the other.

Figure 3. Characterization of a multicomponent system from State 1 to State 2.

References:
[1] Jackson, D. (nd). Pure Substances. Huntington University. Retrieved 06th June 2018, from
http://djackson.huntingdon.edu/attachments/PChem%20I%20ppts/Pure%20substances.pptx