Continuous Thermodynamics - An Approach to the Treatment of Multicomponent Mixtures. In the chemical industry, complex multicomponent mixtures such as petroleum fractions or polymer systems are of great importance. Characterization experiments on such mixtures mostly result only in continuous distribution functions. In contrast, equations of chemical thermodynamics include the mole fractions of the individual components. An approach suitable for overcoming these difficulties is provided by continuous thermodynamics, which is based directly on continuous distribution functions. Here, applications relating preferentially to vapor-liquid equilibrium involved in the calculation of distillation columns are discussed. Continuous thermodynamics is seen to provide distinct advantages over the traditional approach, i.e. the pseudo-component method.