PREDICTION OF THE THERMAL-CONDUCTIVITY OF DENSE HYDROCARBON GASES

A three-parameter extension of the simple theorem of corresponding states is shown to work well for the estimation of the effect of pressure on the thermal conductivity of hydrocarbon gases. The development of the generalized thermal conductivity correlation for dense gases was accomplished in several steps. The thermal conductivities of the simple fluids (argon, krypton, and xenon) were first correlated as a function of reduced temperature and reduced pressure by an empirical expression. Correction terms for hydrocarbons were developed using the isochoric heat capacity to account for the contributions of translational and internal modes to the total thermal conductivity. The final correlation was evaluated using experimental thermal conductivity data for three simple fluids and 18 hydrocarbons. Average errors were determined to be 3.66% and 4.48%, respectively. © 1979, American Chemical Society. All rights reserved.