# Jürgen Gmehling

Jürgen Gmehling (born 13 January 1946 in Duisburg) is a retired German professor of technical and industrial chemistry at the Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg.

## Biography

His career started with an apprenticeship as a laboratory assistant at the Duisburg copper works before he studied chemical engineering at the engineering school in Essen and then chemistry in Dortmund and Clausthal. He received his diploma from the University of Dortmund in 1970 and his PhD (Dr. rer. nat., inorganic chemistry) in 1973. After this he worked as a scientific coworker in Dortmund before he became a private lecturer and, after his habilitation, an assistant professor.
Gmehling was appointed a full professor for technical chemistry at the University of Oldenburg in 1989 and retired in 2011.

## Fields of research

Gmehling's main focus is the process development. This includes the development of software for process synthesis and process simulation as well as measurement, collection, and estimation of thermophysical properties of pure components and component mixtures. The following list summarizes fields of his scientific work but is in no way complete.

### Measurements

* Phase equilibrium data (vapor-liquid equilibria, liquid-liquid equilibria, solid–liquid equilibria, gas solubilities, heats of mixing, activity coefficients and more)

### Data collection

Gmehling began in the 1970s with the systematic evaluation of the scientific literature, aiming to build a data bank for vapor-liquid equilibria. These data were needed for the development of a new method for the prediction of activity coefficients named UNIFAC. This data bank is still named the Dortmund Data Bank.

### Development of estimation and correlation models

Gmehling developed with colleagues models for the estimation of several thermodynamic and thermophysical properties:
* Activity coefficient models like UNIFAC (see also group contribution method) and extensions. For the further development of these widely used methods Gmehling founded an industry consortium where many international companies are participating.
* Equations of state (EOS) including mixing rules for applying EOS to mixtures (see PSRK).

### Software development

The following implementation of his methods are also developments:
* an expert system for the entrainer selection for the azeotropic and extractive distillation

## Awards

Gmehling has received some awards:
* Arnold-Eucken Price in 1982
* The Rosini Lectureship Award in 2008
* The Gmelin-Beilstein-Denkmünze (Silver Medal) in 2010
* The Emil Kirschbaum Medal in 2013

## Publications

Gmehling has published scientific articles and books.

### Selection of scientific articles

* ↑ "Pressedienst 17. Mai 2011: Chemiker Jürgen Gmehling im Ruhestand -- Universität Oldenburg".
* ↑ "Biography from DDBST company web site". Retrieved 2017-06-27.
* ↑ Horstmann, Sven; Fischer, Kai; Gmehling, Jürgen (19 May 2004). "Isothermal Vapor−Liquid Equilibrium and Excess Enthalpy Data for the Binary Systems Water + Sulfolane and Methanol + N-Methyl-2-pyrrolidone". Journal of Chemical & Engineering Data. 49 (6). American Chemical Society (ACS): 1499–1503. doi:10.1021/je034254m. ISSN 0021-9568.
* ↑ Joh, Ralph; Kreutz, Jens; Gmehling, Jürgen (1 September 1997). "Measurement and Prediction of Ternary Solid−Liquid Equilibria". Journal of Chemical & Engineering Data. 42 (5). American Chemical Society (ACS): 886–889. doi:10.1021/je970051k. ISSN 0021-9568.
* ↑ Gruber, Detlef; Topphoff, Magnus; Gmehling, Jürgen (5 September 1998). "Measurement of Activity Coefficients at Infinite Dilution Using Gas−Liquid Chromatography. 9. Results for Various Solutes with the Stationary Phases 2-Pyrrolidone and N-Methylformamide". Journal of Chemical & Engineering Data. 43 (6). American Chemical Society (ACS): 935–940. doi:10.1021/je9801213. ISSN 0021-9568.
* ↑ Gmehling, Jürgen; Weidlich, Ulrich (1985). "Die Dortmunder Datenbank - Basis für die Weiterentwicklung der UNIFAC-Methode". Chemie Ingenieur Technik. 57 (5). Wiley: 447–449. doi:10.1002/cite.330570512. ISSN 0009-286X.
* ↑ Fredenslund, Aage; Gmehling, Jurgen; Michelsen, Michael L.; Rasmussen, Peter; Prausnitz, John M. (1977). "Computerized Design of Multicomponent Distillation Columns Using the UNIFAC Group Contribution Method for Calculation of Activity Coefficients". Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Process Design and Development. 16 (4). American Chemical Society (ACS): 450–462. doi:10.1021/i260064a004. ISSN 0196-4305.
* ↑ Weidlich, Ulrich; Gmehling, Juergen (1987). "A modified UNIFAC model. 1. Prediction of VLE, hE, and .gamma..infin". Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research. 26 (7). American Chemical Society (ACS): 1372–1381. doi:10.1021/ie00067a018. ISSN 0888-5885.
* ↑ Holderbaum, T.; Gmehling, J. (1991). "PSRK: A Group Contribution Equation of State Based on UNIFAC". Fluid Phase Equilibria. 70 (2–3). Elsevier BV: 251–265. doi:10.1016/0378-3812(91)85038-v. ISSN 0378-3812.
* ↑ Möllmann, Christian; Gmehling, Jürgen (1997). "Auswahl selektiver Zusatzstoffe für die Rektifikation durch kombinierten Zugriff auf experimentelle und vorausberechnete Gleichgewichtsdaten". Chemie Ingenieur Technik. 69 (3). Wiley: 324–328. doi:10.1002/cite.330690309. ISSN 0009-286X.
* ↑ "Biography from DDBST company web site". Retrieved 2017-06-27.
* ↑ "Rossini Lectureship Award". Retrieved 2017-06-27.
* ↑ "University web page". Retrieved 2017-06-27.
* ↑ "ProcessNet web page". Retrieved 2017-06-27.