Viscosity of Saturated Liquid Dimethyl Ether from(227 to 343) K

J iangtao Wu, Zhigang Liu,* Shengshan Bi, and Xianyang Meng

Di vi si on of Thermodynami cs & Heat Transfer, Xi an Ji aotong Uni versi ty, Xi an Shaanxi 710049,
Peopl es Republ i c of Chi na
Measurements of the vi scosi ty of saturated l i qui d di methyl ether are reported over the temperature range
from (227 to 343) K al ong the saturati on l i ne made wi th a cal i brated capi l l ary vi scometer. The resul ts
were correl ated as a functi on of temperature. The standard devi ati on and the maxi mum devi ati on of the
experi mental resul ts from the correl ati on equati on are 0.5% and 1.3%, respecti vel y.
1. Introduction
As a chemi cal raw materi al , di methyl ether pl ays an
i mportant rol e i n the synthesi s of chemi cal s. At the same
ti me, i t i s often used as a propel l ant gas, assi st sol vent,
vesi cant, fuel addi ti ve, of l i quefi ed petrol eum gas substi -
tute. Al so, i t can be used as a refri gerant and vesi cant.
Especi al l y, i n recent research of cl ean al ternati ve fuel s, i t
has been di scovered that di methyl ether and i ts mi xtures
are possi bl e al ternati ves for di esel oi l i n the future.
1
Hence,
the thermophysi cal property data of di methyl ether are
i mportant. I n the desi gn of the feed and ejecti on systems
of combusti on processes, the vi scosi ty data are i ndi spen-
sabl e, but there are few data on the vi scosi ty of di methyl
ether. I n thi s work, the vi scosi ty of di methyl ether was
measured wi th a seal ed gravi tati onal capi l l ary vi scometer
at temperatures between (227 and 343) K al ong the
saturati on l i ne.
2. Experimental Method
Accordi ng to the Hagen-Poi seui l l e pri nci pl e, i f a fl ui d
fl ows through a capi l l ary under a gravi ty head, then,
often accounti ng for the ki neti c-energy correcti on and
the end correcti on, the vi scosi ty of the fl ui d can be
expressed by
where i s the fl ui d dynami c vi scosi ty, V i s the vol ume of
fl ow through the capi l l ary for a gi ven ti me t, m i s the
ki neti c energy factor, L i s the capi l l ary l ength, R i s the
capi l l ary radi us, F
L
i s the saturated l i qui d densi ty of the
sampl e, F
V
i s the saturated vapor densi ty, h i s the hei ght
of fl ui d i n the capi l l ary, g i s the accel erati on of gravi ty,
and n i s the end-correcti on factor. Equati on 1 coul d be
rewri tten as
where
where i s the ki nemati c vi scosi ty. A and B are temperature
i ndependent and constant, whi l e k general l y decreases as
the temperature i ncreases. When the rel ati ve measurement
method i s appl i ed, L, V, R, h, and g are constants for the
speci fi c vi scometer at a si te, and then A and B are
constants, whi ch are al so cal l ed i nstrument constants. I n
thi s work, L and R equal 120 ( 0.1 mm and 0.165 ( 0.01
mm, respecti vel y, and the uni formi ty of the capi l l ary i s
better than 0.05 mm; h equal s L i s assumed i n our
experi ment. The k val ue can be regarded as 1.0, i f the
temperature i s far l ess than the cri ti cal temperature. But
when the temperature i s cl ose to the cri ti cal temper-
ature, the k val ue has to be taken i nto account. I n thi s
work, the temperature range i s l i mi ted and far l ess than
the cri ti cal temperature. Therefore, i f the ti me of l i qui d
fl owi ng through the capi l l ary i s measured, and the val ues
of A and B are known, the ki nemati c vi scosi ty coul d be
obtai ned.
From eq 2, the fol l owi ng equati on can be deri ved:
where
i s a constant for a speci fi c vi scometer;
E
i s i n i nverse
proporti on to the square of t. I t i s proved that the val ue of

E
for the vi scometer used i n thi s research i s l ess than 0.5%,
i f t > 900 s. Thus, i f the term B/ t i s i gnored, the maxi mum
devi ati on wi l l be l ess than 0.5%, when the ti me of l i qui d
fl ow through the capi l l ary i s more than 900 s. And then
* To whom correspondence shoul d be addressed. E-mai l : jtwu@
mai l .xjtu.edu.cn. Fax: 86-29-2668789.
k )
F
L
- F
V
F
L
(3)
A )
ghR
4
8V(L + nR)
(4)
B )
mV
8(L + nR)
(5)

E
)
B/t
kAt
)
mV
2

2
kghR
4
1
t
2
)

t
2
(6)
)
mV
2

2
kghR
4
(7)
)
gh(F
L
- F
V
)R
4
8V(L + nR)
t -
mF
L
V
8(L + nR)t
(1)
v )

F
L
) kAt - B/t (2)
426 J . Chem. Eng. Data 2003, 48, 426-429
10.1021/je0256232 CCC: $25.00 2003 Ameri can Chemi cal Soci ety
Publ i shed on Web 01/29/2003

http://www.paper.edu.cn

eq 2 can be wri tten as
On the basi s of the above di scussi on, pure water and
ethanol were sel ected as reference l i qui ds to cal i brate the
constant A. I n thi s i nstrument, the fl ow ti me of water and
ethanol i s l onger than 900 s at ambi ent temperature. I n
thi s work, wi th eq 8 and the experi mental data, A i s fi tted
by usi ng the l east-squares method.
The ki neti c-energy factor and end-correcti on factor are
rel ated to the Reynol ds number and shape of the end of
the capi l l ary,
2,3
and there are some di fferent ways to obtai n
B.
From the ref 2, i n the range of Reynol ds numbers 46 e
Ree 1466, the val ues of mare 1.08 to 1.16, whi l e the end-
correcti on factor n i s 0.57, and B can be cal cul ated from
because A, L, R, g, h, m, and n are constants for the speci fi c
vi scometer at a si te and then B i s a constant.
From ref 3, i n the range of Reynol ds number 80 e Ree
500, the ki neti c-energy factor mcan be cal cul ated from the
empi ri cal correl ati on
For thi s i nstrument, the Reynol ds number Re can be
approxi mated by
and then B can be cal cul ated as fol l ows:
The val ue of V i s cal cul ated from eq 4.
I n thi s paper, both methods were appl i ed. The resul ts
i ndi cated that the B cal cul ated from eq 9 i s more workabl e
than that from eq 12 for thi s i nstrument, i f the buoyancy
of the vapor i s negl ected and the k val ue i s regarded as
1.0. Hence, eq 9 was used to obtai n the ki nemati c vi scosi ty
of di methyl ether i n thi s work.
3. Experiment Apparatus and Procedures
The apparatus i s shown i n Fi gure 1.
Three val ves, whi ch are shown i n Fi gure 1, are necessary
for the experi ment. Before the experi ment, the l i qui d
sampl e i s i njected i nto the pressure vessel through val ve
A. Duri ng the experi ment, val ve A i s al ways cl osed, and
the sampl e remai ns at i ts vapor pressure. Pri or to each
measurement, the l i qui d must be forced through the bypass
tube to the upper bul bs. When rai si ng the l i qui d, val ve B
i s cl osed; at the same ti me val ve C i s open and connects to
the atmosphere. When the saturati on pressure i n the vessel
i s hi gher than atmospheri c pressure, the l i qui d wi l l be
rai sed natural l y. When the saturati on pressure i n the
vessel i s l ess than atmospheri c pressure, the vacuum pump
must be used to draw the l i qui d i nto the upper vol ume.
Duri ng each measurement, val ve C i s cl osed and val ve B
i s opened, so the vapor i nsi de and outsi de the capi l l ary are
connected. Due to i ts wei ght, the l i qui d wi l l fl ow down. The
detai l s of the i nstrument coul d be found i n ref 4.
The vi scometer was pl aced i n a thermostat bath, for
whi ch temperature can be vari ed from (220 to 500) K, and
the stabi l i ty of the temperature i n the bath i s better than
(4 mKh
-1
. The total uncertai nty of temperature i s l ess
than (5 mK (I TS-90). The detai l s about the thermostat
bath and temperature measurement have been descri bed
i n ref 5. A stopwatch was used to measure the fl ow ti me,
and the accuracy i s 0.01 s.
4. Calibration
Ethanol and water were used to cal i brate the i nstru-
ment; the mass puri ty of ethanol i s 99.7%, and the
el ectri cal resi stance of water i s no l ess than 40 M. The
speci fi cati ons were provi ded by the producer, and no
further puri fi cati ons were carri ed out. Thei r ki nemati c
vi scosi ty and densi ty data were ci ted from refs 6-8. The
cal i brati on resul ts are l i sted i n Tabl e 1. The fl ow ti mes
gi ven i n Tabl e 1 are the average ti mes, and three to fi ve
fl ow ti mes were measured at each temperature. The repeat-
abi l i ty of fl ow ti me i s better than 1.0% () (measured ti me
- average ti me)/average ti me) and usual l y i s about 0.5%.
Wi th the method di scussed above, A was determi ned (A
) 4.937 10
-10
mm
2
s
-2
), and B depended on the fi tted
method. I f eq 9 was used, B ) 2.142 10
-6
mm
2
s, and i f
eq 12 was appl i ed, the B val ue depends on the shape of
the capi l l ary.
To test the rel i abi l i ty and proper operati on of the
i nstrument, the vi scosi ty of HFC152a was measured. The
sampl e was from Hangzhou Fi rst Chemi cal Co. Ltd., and
i ts mass puri ty was 99.95% and was anal yzed wi th gas
chromatography before the measurement.
The vi scosi ti es of HFC152a are l i sted i n Tabl e 2. The
dynami c vi scosi ty and densi ty data were ci ted from refs 8
) At (8)
B )
mghR
4
64A(L + nR)
2
(9)
m) 0.037Re
0.5
(10)
Re)
2V
RkAt
2
(11)
B ) 0.00117
V
1.5
(kA)
0.5
R
0.5
(L + nR)
(12)
Figure1. Vi scometer schemati c: (A) addi ti onal vol ume; (B) upper
mark; (C) fl ow vol ume; (D) l ower mark; (E) bypass tube; (F) fl ange
pl ate; (G) observati on wi ndow; (H) capi l l ary; (I ) pressure vessel ;
(J) val ve A; (K) val ve B; (L) val ve C.
Table 1. Flow Times and Viscosities of Ethanol and
Water
l i qui d T/K t/s F/kgm
-3
/mm
2
s
-1
/Pas refs
water 315.052 1276.28 991.444 0.6358 630.314
325.109 1099.31 987.111 0.5363 529.348 6
335.207 924.72 982.105 0.4605 452.257
ethanol 309.946 2346.35 774.775 1.1230 870.065
319.786 1921.90 766.068 0.9586 734.355 7, 8
330.124 1622.93 756.700 0.8210 621.245
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and 9. To check the feasi bi l i ty of the assumpti on k ) 1.0,
both resul ts (k ) 1.0 and (F
L
- F
g
)/F
L
) were gi ven. I t can be
found that i f B i s obtai ned wi th eq 9, the resul ts of k ) 1.0
are better than those of k ) (F
L
- F
g
)/F
L
, and the maxi mum
devi ati on and the average devi ati on are 2.55% and 1.33%,
respecti vel y. I f B i s obtai ned wi th eq 12, the resul ts of k )
(F
L
- F
g
)/F
L
are better than those of k ) 1.0, and the
maxi mum devi ati on and the average devi ati on are 2.41%
and 1.16%, respecti vel y.
On the basi s of the above di scussi on and the si mi l ari ty
of HFC152a and di methyl ether, the assumpti on k ) 1.0
and eq 9 are used i n the vi scosi ty measurements of
di methyl ether. Another reason i s that i nformati on on the
vapor densi ty of di methyl ether i s currentl y l acki ng.
5. Results and Analysis
The sampl e of di methyl ether was provi ded by Zhong-
shan Fi ne Chemi cal Co. Ltd. I ts mass puri ty was better
than 99.95%, and no further puri fi cati on was needed.
The vi scosi ty of l i qui d di methyl ether was measured
al ong the saturati on l i ne from (227 to 343) K. The experi -
mental data are l i sted i n Tabl e 3. The saturated l i qui d
densi ti es of di methyl ether are ci ted from ref 10. At each
temperature, the fl ow ti me i s measured three to fi ve ti mes,
and the repeatabi l i ty of the fl ow ti me i s better than 1.0%.
The experi mental resul ts l i sted i n Tabl e 3 were cor-
rel ated as a functi on of temperature usi ng the fol l owi ng
equati on:
where the vi scosi ty i s i n mPas and temperature i s i n K.
The standard devi ati on and the maxi mum devi ati on of the
experi mental resul ts from eq 13 are 0.5% and 1.3%,
respecti vel y. Fi gure 2 shows the vi scosi ty of di methyl ether
as a functi on of temperature, and Fi gure 3 shows the
devi ati ons of the experi mental data from eq 13.
Table 2. Experimental Viscosities for Saturated Liquid HFC152a
k ) 1.0 k ) (FL - Fg)/FL
B eq 9 B eq 12 B eq 9 B eq 12
T/K t/s FL/kgm
-3
Fg/kgm
-3
ref/mm
2
s
-1
exp/mm
2
s
-1

a
/% exp/mm
2
s
-1
/% exp/mm
2
s
-1
/% exp/mm
2
s
-1
/%
244.397 632.18 1020.63 2.76 0.3168 0.3087 2.55 0.3109 1.85 0.3079 2.81 0.3101 2.12
253.460 571.75 1001.96 4.03 0.2799 0.2788 0.50 0.2808 -0.32 0.2774 0.91 0.2797 0.08
263.913 497.10 979.64 6.02 0.2465 0.2414 2.20 0.2435 1.23 0.2396 2.81 0.2420 1.84
271.620 464.24 962.58 7.93 0.2269 0.2249 1.03 0.2270 -0.03 0.2227 1.87 0.2251 0.80
281.749 425.72 939.27 11.14 0.2062 0.2055 0.50 0.2076 -0.68 0.2027 1.71 0.2051 0.53
293.103 391.58 911.77 15.89 0.1878 0.1883 -0.02 0.1902 -1.29 0.1845 1.78 0.1869 0.51
303.082 362.46 886.21 21.32 0.1745 0.1735 0.83 0.1753 -0.49 0.1687 3.30 0.1710 1.98
315.345 343.25 852.59 30.03 0.1601 0.1637 -1.98 0.1654 -3.37 0.1573 1.75 0.1595 0.36
315.347 342.47 852.58 30.03 0.1601 0.1633 -1.73 0.1650 -3.12 0.1569 1.99 0.1591 0.60
325.328 321.53 822.00 39.26 0.1489 0.1526 -2.10 0.1542 -3.50 0.1445 2.98 0.1466 1.59
325.132 319.41 823.60 39.06 0.1492 0.1515 -1.22 0.1531 -2.61 0.1435 3.79 0.1456 2.41
a
) 100(exp - ref)/ref.
Table 3. Experimental Viscosities for Saturated Liquid
Dimethyl Ether
T/K t/s F/kgm
-3
/mm
2
s
-1
/Pas
227.218 697.97 757.655 0.3418 258.928
232.277 653.91 751.053 0.3198 240.191
237.471 610.59 744.185 0.2982 221.920
243.152 583.05 736.565 0.2845 209.520
248.297 558.50 729.561 0.2722 198.576
253.138 537.55 722.876 0.2617 189.180
258.153 512.65 715.848 0.2492 178.413
263.141 493.59 708.749 0.2397 169.869
268.154 477.41 701.498 0.2316 162.432
273.157 460.82 694.138 0.2232 154.939
278.156 446.20 686.654 0.2159 148.215
283.151 433.68 679.035 0.2095 142.287
288.152 424.89 671.258 0.2051 137.681
293.145 411.36 663.333 0.1983 131.523
298.157 403.91 655.205 0.1945 127.443
303.162 393.08 646.900 0.1890 122.282
308.148 379.40 638.426 0.1821 116.252
312.534 370.02 630.790 0.1773 111.857
317.518 363.50 621.888 0.1740 108.217
322.498 352.54 612.733 0.1684 103.205
327.501 345.44 603.246 0.1648 99.423
332.493 341.74 593.455 0.1629 96.688
337.467 336.30 583.340 0.1601 93.419
342.448 332.98 572.801 0.1584 90.759
Figure 2. Saturated l i qui d vi scosi ty of di methyl ether as a
functi on of temperature: s, cal cul ati on; [, experi mental data.
Figure 3. Devi ati ons of experi mental data from eq 14.
l og
10
(/mPas) ) -5.7282 + 631.031/(T/K) +
(1.4530 10
-2
)(T/K) - (1.8225 10
-5
)(T/K)
2
(13)
428 J ournal of Chemical and Engineering Data, Vol. 48, No. 2, 2003

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6. Conclusion
I n thi s work, the vi scosi ty of di methyl ether was meas-
ured wi th a capi l l ary vi scometer at temperatures between
(227 and 343) K al ong the saturati on l i ne. The repeatabi l i ty
of the fl ow ti me i s better than 1.0% at a certai n tempera-
ture, and the total rel ati ve uncertai nty of the ki nemati c
vi scosi ty i s better than 3.0%. The resul ts were correl ated
as a functi on of temperature. The standard devi ati on and
the maxi mum devi ati on of the experi mental resul ts from
the equati on are 0.5% and 1.3%.
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Recei ved for revi ew September 30, 2002. Accepted January 1, 2003.
Thi s research i s supported by the Nati onal Natural Sci ence
Foundati on of Chi na (Grant No. 59976030) and the Nati onal Basi c
Research Pri ori ti es Program of the Mi ni stry of Sci ence and
Technol ogy of Chi na (973 Project, Grant No. 2001CB209208).
JE0256232
J ournal of Chemical and Engineering Data, Vol. 48, No. 2, 2003 429

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