AVS 53rd International Symposium
    Vacuum Technology Tuesday Sessions
       Session VT-TuP

Paper VT-TuP12
Viscosity of Hydrogen-Methane Mixed Gas

Tuesday, November 14, 2006, 6:00 pm, Room 3rd Floor Lobby

Session: Vacuum Technology Poster Session
Presenter: Y. Kobayashi, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Japan
Authors: Y. Kobayashi, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Japan
A. Kurokawa, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Japan
M. Hirata, Shibaura Institute of Technology, Japan
Correspondent: Click to Email
In order to reduce CO@sub 2@ emission, EU started in May, 2004, an experimental approach named "Naturalhy Project" to transport hydrogen by mixing with existing high pressure natural gas pipelines. Naturalhy means a mixture of hydrogen and natural gas. Properties of Hydrogen-Methane mixed gas should be investigated much more because Hydrogen-Methane mixed gas is predicted to be an energy carrier to replace methane in the near future. Thus, our result would be useful for those who are developing pumps, compressors, or Mass Flow Controllers (MFC) for the next generation energy systems. This paper is considered to be the first report on the viscosity measurement of Hydrogen-Methane mixed gas. To measure the viscosity, the authors conducted two methods for comparison. The first method is the ordinary way that measures pressure drop in laminar pipe flow. The authors prepared a chemically polished, ultra clean and smooth tube and carefully measured pressure drop between upstream and downstream using a capacitance manometer. The second method measures drag acting on the quartz friction gauge in a gas atmosphere. The quartz friction gauge is sensitive to pressure, temperature and viscosity. To achieve proper conditions, the experiments are held in ultra clean tubes that have reached a constant and uniform temperature in a bath. The impedance, which correlates with drag acting on the quartz friction gauge, is measured for each gas. The authors computed viscosity of the gas from this drag by solving the Navier-Stokes equation. This study concluded as follows: (1) The authors give viscosity of Hydrogen-Methane mixed gas for system designers. (2) The authors verify the use of the quartz friction gauge as a viscosity measurement system.