Eur. Phys. J. E (2017) 40: 49
https://doi.org/10.1140/epje/i2017-11538-0

Regular Article

Theoretical models for the thermo-gravitational separation process in porous media filled by N-component mixtures

¹ Université Lyon 1, Université de Lyon, LMFA UMR CNRS 5509, 36, avenue Guy de Collongue, 69134, Ecully, France
² Université Paul Sabatier, IMFT UMR CNRS 5502, 2, Allée du Professeur Camille Soula, 31400, Toulouse, France

^* e-mail: abdelkader.mojtabi@imft.fr

Received: 12 September 2016
Accepted: 24 March 2017
Published online: 24 April 2017

Abstract

The aim of this work is to present a theoretical analysis of the separation of an N-component mixture. In this study, two analytical models explaining the thermo-gravitational separation of components in N-component mixtures for vertical cavity filled by a porous medium are presented and assessed. The basic state and the separation are expressed in terms of the separation ratio, and the Lewis, cross-diffusion and Rayleigh numbers. Our computational analysis confirms that, for the given values of the mass fractions, thermodiffusion can be measured with a thermo-gravitational column, strongly supporting the experimentally determined transport coefficients.