GENERALIZED ONE-PARAMETER VISCOSITY EQUATION FOR LIGHT AND MEDIUM LIQUID HYDROCARBONS

The applicability of a viscosity-temperature equation, proposed recently for heavy hydrocarbons, is extended to light and medium hydrocarbons. The one-parameter equation, log (mu + 0.8) = 100(0.01T)b, was developed for the viscosity of heavy hydrocarbons, including branched/unbranched paraffins/olefins and nonfused/fused aromatic/naphthenic compounds. This generalized equation is demonstrated to be capable of modeling the viscosity of light and medium hydrocarbons (30 < M < 300 g/mol) that belong to paraffin (alkane), olefin (alkene), (n-alkyl)cyclopentane, (n-alkyl)-cyclohexane, and aromatic families. Average deviations from the generalized viscosity equation are between 5 and 15% for most hydrocarbons. Parameter "b" is correlated well (\r\ > 0.99) with molar mass (M), inverse of normal boiling point (1/T(b)), critical temperature (T(c)), and acentric factor (omega) of the hydrocarbons in each family. The results of this study combined with those reported previously yield a generalized one-parameter method for predicting the viscosity of light, medium, and heavy liquid hydrocarbons.