ORGANIC COMPOUNDS THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY IN THE LIQUID PHASE: A PREDICTION METHOD IN THE TEMPERATURE RANGE FROM THE MELTING POINT TO NEAR THE CRITICAL TEMPERATURE

In this work a new equation for liquid thermal conductivity prediction is proposed; its goal is to overcome the existing relations' limitations, being reliable for many compounds in a wide temperature range and requiring few parameters to be used. The equation allows thermal conductivity calculation along or near the saturation line by the knowledge of the reduced temperature and two parameters characteristic of the organic family and of the single investigated compound. Also the "golden ratio" appears in the formula and an investigation on this number is carried out, proposing it as a characteristic value of the liquid state. The results of the formula's test on the best available experimental values of more than 120 organic compounds, belonging to 13 different families (including the most used refrigerants) are presented. In the investigated reduced temperature range (going from the melting point to close the critical temperature, T-r = 0.30 divided by 0.95) mean absolute deviations between calculated and experimental thermal conductivity data are generally less than 3% and maximum ones usually close to 8%.