Thermodiffusion in ternary hydrocarbon mixtures. Part 1: n-dodecane/isobutylbenzene/tetralin

Experiments are to be performed on board the ISS to understand the thermodiffusion behavior in ternary hydrocarbon mixtures of n-dodecane/isobutylbenzene/tetralin. This will be followed by additional experiments with these components as well as mixtures of n-hexane/n-heptane/n-dodecane and n-decane/isobutylbenzene/tetralin. For these additional experiments, the temperature of the mixture is yet to be determined. In a three part series, by applying the theory in the literature, thermodiffusion coefficients of all these mixtures have been determined. The predictions have been made using the thermodiffusion model of Firoozabadi as well as two correlations from the literature. In this first part, thermodiffusion coefficients of twelve mixtures of n-dodecane/isobutylbenzene/tetralin have been estimated. From the results it is proposed that the future experiments be performed at 318 K and 1 atm. Certain mixtures have also been identified as important experiments due to conflicting predictions by the theoretical methods.