I need to calculate the specific heat capacity of a non-ideal mixture of glycerol (liquid), ammonia (liquid), water (liquid) and biomass (solid). What would be the best way to approximate the specific heat for this mixture given that I know the specific heat capacities for all of the components individually and their respective compositions in the mixture?
1 Answer
Let $c_i$ is the specific heat capacity of a component $i$ in $[\pu{J K-1 kg-1}]$.
Let $w_i = \dfrac{m_i}{m}$ is the mass fraction a component $i$, while $m_i$ and $m$ are the mass of the component $i$ and the total mass of the mixture.
Then the specific heat capacity of the mixture can be quite well approximated as if it were an ideal mixture.
$$c_\text{mix} = \sum_i{c_i \cdot w_i}$$
Deviations from ideality are complex and cannot be easily calculated without partial experimental data. The specific heat capacity of the mixture would have to be measured by calorimetry for various compositions and eventually interpolated for not measured ones.