Thermal conductivity measurements of liquid ethane and ethane + propane binary mixtures

Based on the transient hot-wire apparatus, the thermal conductivity of ethane was measured in the temperature range of 146–247 K and pressure < 14 MPa in the liquid phase. The thermal conductivity of ethane + propane binary mixture was measured in the temperature range of 156–288 K and pressure < 25 MPa in the liquid phase. The mole fractions of ethane in binary systems are 0.198, 0.525, and 0.736. The deviation between experimental results and REFPROP calculation falls within 3 % of ethane and mixture. Subsequently, the previous established thermal conductivity model, derived from dimensional analysis, was employed to predict the thermal conductivity of n-alkanes mixture. The mixture critical parameters were obtained first by the mixing rules, and the thermal conductivity of the mixture were calculated. Comparisons were made between the experimental data of ethane and the previously constructed n-alkane model, resulting in an average absolute relative deviation (AARD) of 4.42 %. Similarly, the experimental data of the ethane + propane mixture was compared with the mixture prediction model proposed in this study, yielding an AARD of 1.92 %. The relative deviation between experimental data and model calculations demonstrates good consistency.