Water activity coefficient in aqueous solutions of sucrose A comprehensive data analysis

Boiling point temperature, vapor pressure, equilibrium relative humidity, and other closely related data for sucrose solutions in water were collected from 56 different studies published over more than a century and processed in order to develop a thermodynamically rigorous and statistically sound equation for the water activity coefficient. A two-stage iteratively reweighted least squares technique with subsequent elimination of outliers was used to ensure a normal distribution of residuals and to account for diversified data quality. The applicability of the activity coefficient equation was illustrated by predicting the boiling point elevation (BPE) for sucrose solutions in the full range of dry substance contents (0-99%) and at different total pressures. Some useful approximate methods for BPE prediction are also proposed.